


Looking for home

by cannibalpasta



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Abduction, Action/Adventure, Aftermath of Torture, Aliens, Attempt at Humor, BAMF Loki, BAMF Tony, But it's okay, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Escape, Eventual Happy Ending, Hurt Loki, Hurt Tony, I'm Bad At Everything, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, I'm Sorry, Kidnapping, Loki & Tony Stark Friendship, Loki Does What He Wants, Loki Has Issues, Loki Needs a Hug, Loki is Not Amused, Loki-centric, M/M, MY BABIES, Not Beta Read, Oh My God, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Avengers (2012), Pre-Iron Man 3, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Spaceships, Swearing, Tony Has Issues, Tony Is Not Helping, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony-centric, Torture, Warning: Loki, all the Tony and Loki tags, and do my best, but I'll give it a shot, i think, omg, well let's just say that I'm new in action genre
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-11
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-02-12 15:13:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 42,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2114658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cannibalpasta/pseuds/cannibalpasta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything seems to be perfect in Tony Stark's life for once. He finally has a proper family, people who he can depend his whole life on.</p><p>But of course because you are Tony Stark, the seemingly normal and peaceful day turns into something less normal and peaceful as Tony is kidnapped by aliens. On his journey to wherever they are taking him, Tony meets an old enemy of his, clearly not under the most desirable circumstances. Can he find a way back to home, and more importantly back to his family?</p><p>Eventual frostiron.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Abduction

**Author's Note:**

> Heyyyy! Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it!
> 
> This is my second frostiron fic, and I hope you'll like it. I intend it to be a long one (if there is interest of some sort for it) and I try to update as often as possible with other WIPs.
> 
> I'm not a native English speaker and this work is not beta read, so typos may occur, but you're very welcome to tell me if you find something illogical from my fic!
> 
> Thanks again! <3

Tony Stark's life was currently ( ~~unnervingly~~ ) good. You see, the world had been kind of peaceful; no big catastrophes (nature or people), no major financial problems (thus his company was sill doing good) and no crazy super villains (ones that he and his team couldn't handle, that is). So you get why Tony was slightly twitchy about his life at the moment. Though he couldn't be bothered that much, since  _his life was freaking good._

He hadn't believed he could ever again think that way after their final break-up with Pepper, but he genuinely could. They had afterwards made up with his CEO and were now back to close friends. The Avengers had one by one moved to the Avengers Tower (formerly known as Stark Tower) and they had quickly been morphed into a family of their own. For the first time in a while, Tony felt that he had a real family and a real  _home_ to top it off. He hadn't reduced to alcohol, sex and partying after the break-up and nowadays barely even went out in the evenings. He preferred to spend it with his new family (oh God, it sounded weird admitting that they indeed _were_  a family (even after a rocky start and living barely three months under the same roof)), having movie nights and eating and/or drinking together. It was nice, really.

But having people he could trust didn't mean that he could slack off, so Tony still liked to work his ass off in his workshop. He was a busy man (he did run (partially but whatever) a company big as an empire, consult SHIELD and do designs for their appliances, take care of all the press and financial stuff considering Iron Man and the other Avengers, run the economy of their household and his team mates' equipment and also work on some of his own projects, designs and blueprints, some for his company and some for other parties), which often led to one of his comrades nearly bodily dragging him to eat, sleep or shower (and sometimes ( ~~nearly always~~ ) it was a mix of two or possibly even three of them). But it was okay, since it made Tony feel important, and proved the fact that he had people who had his back.

And even though sleeping was still an issue with the nightmares about Afghanistan, Obie, the wormhole and various other things, it was every time a bit easier, like he was finally  _healing._ So, you could say that Tony Stark felt better than in years. He hummed happily the last notes of "Highway to Hell" as he took the screwdriver from his mouth and eased four screws before popping the metallic hatch open. He was lying on his workshop's floor, from waist up under a relatively small aircraft. His workshop had some spacious areas for projects like this, so the aircraft fit just fine. This one had initially been SHIELD's, but the two agents had taken it with them as they had moved in to the Tower (there weren't many agents altogether in SHIELD (or anywhere, for the record) who were willing to compromise the safety of their genitals only to oppose the two in something like this. The pair had a wicked imagination), and Tony had noticed a glitch a few days back when they had had a minor scuffle with Doom (in which the Avengers had totally kicked ass). He snaked his hand holding a tiny flashlight past some wires to take a look at the circuit board. Everything looked just fine.  _Maybe the engine then?_ But he could have sworn it looked like a technical malfunction. _Then what about the wiring-_

"Tony?" The engineer jumped and hit his head against the aircraft's hard, metallic belly. He hissed a litany of curses as he squirmed away from under the ship. His angry glare was met by a warm and somewhat amused look from his fellow genius.

"JARVIS, you're supposed to tell me when someone's about to barge in!" Tony whined, holding his forehead and casting a sour look towards the ceiling.

 _"My deepest apologies, sir. I didn't realize you did not fathom at the first five times I informed you._ " Oh, that sass. Tony wasn't sure whether to be proud or disappointed in himself for creating something like JARVIS.  _I mean, one should've realized that an AI with a personality (and a Tony Stark to learn from) would at some point become traitorous and cheeky._ But J was still his baby. And hey, that would explain why his music was gone. Oh, and right, usually when talked to, you should somehow acknowledge that the counterpart has said something.

"Um," he came up with. Nice one, Tony. Getting wittier and wittier with age.

"Tony," Bruce repeated, eyeing the billionaire now with concern. "Should you go and get some sleep? JARVIS told me that you haven't slept for about 54 hours." Well that too could explain his sudden  _nothingness._ And it wasn't often that Tony Stark didn't have the sass. He snapped his attention back at Bruce when he continued,

"I think it's best for everyone's security, yourself included, that you don't tinker with battle gear half-asleep." Huh, it was actually a pretty good idea. But sleep deprivation or not, he still had work to do. Fury was already waiting for the blueprints for the new propeller to magically appear on his desk.

"Nah, I've got some work to catch up, Brucie," Tony told the resident doctor, smirking and attempting to crawl back under the craft. Unfortunately (or fortunately), Bruce was faster and grabbed his shoulder, yanking him up.

"Come on, Tony. Time for a little nap," the glass-eyed genius said as he pulled Tony to the elevator with him. Despite his struggles and whining, Bruce's grip didn't loosen until they were on his floor, and Tony was lying in the bed. Exhaustion took control almost instantly and Tony started drifting to sleep when Bruce quietly begun babbling science to him, to get him to relax. Nevertheless his actions, the billionaire wasn't even slightly mad about the fact that he had just been walked and tucked into bed like a five-year-old. Instead, he smiled a little before promptly falling to unconsciousness.

 

* * *

 

The next day proceeded as smoothly as the previous ones. A couple of board meetings in the morning and noon, a business lunch and then the propeller designs. He had finished repairing the aircraft before the clock had even turned 5 PM ( _it had been the wiring, just so you know)_ and decided to take a look at the common floor. The kitchen (thus coffee) was there and usually at least one or two of his team mates liked to hang out there.

The elevator pinged open and the genius saw Hawkeye, Captain America and Black Widow sprawled on the living room's couches and armchair. Clint was playing Gang Beasts(and loosing against Natasha),the stream being displayed on their enormous TV screen, and Steve was reading an old looking book (and not so stealthy watching over his comrades, the mother hen he was), occasionally glancing at the game on the enormous TV screen.

"Yo," Clint called, not sparing a glance at Tony in favor of the game. Tony walked closer to the trio.

"Hi, Tony," Steve smiled at him, lifting his eyes from the book to look Tony over ( ~~mother hen~~ ). Natasha greeted him with an unfeminine grunt and diverted her attention fully back to the game.

"Hey." Tony leaned his hands against the back of the couch containing the two SHIELD agents.

"You free this evening?" the captain asked, shifting his eyes back to the book in his hands. It seemed rather interesting. Tony pondered the question for the smallest of moments.

"Nothing I couldn't postpone." He still had some paperwork and software designs in line, but they could wait. "Why? Are you asking me out, Cap?" The engineer wiggled his eyebrows, grinning, and Steve rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"Movie night!" Clint chirped from before him, furiously hitting the buttons on his joypad. Tony inwardly grimaced. He would soon have to buy a new one at this rate.

"Sounds good. Whose turn is it to pick the movie?"

"That would be me, my dear friend," Thor boomed from the doorway. His tone was warm and slightly amused as he approached the other occupants in the room. "I wish to see more of the great battle between the mighty mortal lady and those repelling creatures. They are even more horrendous than the bilgesnipes of Asgard!" he finished with a faint shudder.

"So, Alien then." They had watched a few previously, and Thor seemed to enjoy (to say at least) them. "Anyone up for pizza?" A chorus of positive replies. "Okay, good. JARVIS'll place the orders whenever you're ready. I'll be in my workshop till then. See you!" Tony said and took off before he could hear what the other Avengers had to say. He took a quick detour to kitchen, poured two cups of coffee (freshly brewed, because JARVIS was awesome like that) and then continued to the elevator. He had taken to portions of coffee in purpose, as it occurred when he stopped by Bruce's lab. He made a beeline to where the scientist was perched over a table.

"What's up, Big Green?" Tony greeted as he nudged the mug against his friend's arm. Bruce lifted his head and met Tony's eyes.

"Thanks." He took the drink, smiling faintly. "Nothing much. I was just checking some results," the genius continued as he stared intently at the computer screen. Then he took off his glasses and looked back at Tony. "So, what brings you here?" The billionaire smirked and turned to lean against the table.

"Movie night. We're watching another Alien. There'll be pizza too. You interested?" Tony took a sip from his coffee and craned his neck to glance first at the papers on the table and then at the scientist himself. Bruce hummed happily and smiled, also gulping down some of his drink.

"Sure. I'm not that busy anyway." Tony smiled at him and turned to leave.

"Nice. Later then," he said as he stepped into the elevator.

"Yeah, bye Tony," Bruce called at his departing back and Tony waved a hand over his shoulder before the doors slid close. The box descended a couple of levels before the doors pinged open again. The engineer took a long swig of his coffee and stalked over to his workbench. He swiped his hand in the air before him and instantly the room was littered with gleaming blue holograms. Tony deposited his now empty mug on a stand nearby and pulled out a few latest projects of his (the earlier software design and some updates for the Iron Man armor and Natasha's Widow's Bites) and started working.

The clock was starting to near 6 PM when some weird stuff begun happening. First off, there was a flicker in the holograms. And if something was weird then that was. Because it was  _his_ design (not to brag but  _really he had made it fucking perfect)_  it shouldn't do that. The Tower was self-sufficient so it wasn't the power source either. Hm.

But that wasn't all. Not five minutes after, his music cut off. Like, it first sort of stuttered and then just stopped. _Hmmmm._

"JARV? Where's my music?" Nothing. Now that meant that something was wrong. Tony was still frozen in position when the holograms flickered again. He snapped his head back just in time when they vanished completely. He stood up and glanced around him. Something was definitely off. He turned on his heel and skidded to the elevator. It didn't open (most likely because JARVIS couldn't currently open it) and the attempted manual opening by pushing the button like there was no end and trying to pry the doors open proved themselves futile.  _Shit._ Who could be smart enough to get past JARVIS? It seemed to be some sort of a bug or perhaps a radio wave or magnetic field that was messing with his tech. Then there was a loud crash and the lights went out. _Nice._ Now it was dark as night.  _Great. Fucking great. Couldn't get any better than this._  Luckily though ( ~~ _or unluckily_~~ _)_ , the emergency lights soon took control and cast the workshop in a dim, reddish light. That was when things got real twisted.

Not twenty feet from Tony, stood an enormous, _fucking ALIEN. What the actual fuck?_ It was sort of human like, two legs and hands and all that, but its skin was pretty grayish, and its face was  _ugly as fuck._ It was clad in some kind of a light armory and looked vicious enough to make Tony run like hell towards his suits. He sprinted fast enough to amaze freaking Usain Bolt, his brain rambling nothing that would help him.  _This is a fucking dream, there's no way something like that can just **break in here** , right? Crazy world, huh!_

Something that felt very much like a gigantic hand wrapped around his ankle and Tony fell face first to the floor. The impact effectively punched all air out of his lungs and left him coughing and gasping, while he was trying to crawl away. It didn't work, of course, and the engineer soon found himself being thrown over the alien's shoulder. He twisted and kicked, doing his best to get away from the obnoxious creature.

"Let go, you fucker!" he screamed and tried to grab his phone  _or something_ to use to either call for help or  _fucking kill this bastard_  but he couldn't reach anything. He squirmed, swore and yelled at the guy but nothing seemed to work. He struggled in vain as the alien stepped from the hole it had created  _on his damn wall_ and suddendly it was dark again. Then he was dropped to the floor, and he painfully landed on his ass.

"Fucking hell..." Tony cursed, getting up as fast as he could. He felt a small breeze on his skin and heard a sound (a pang and a hiss) very similar to a mechanic door closing itself. No, it couldn't be.  _Fuck._ The too bright lights flared to life and Tony had too raise his hand to momentarily cover his eyes. When he not a long moment after opened them, he didn't want to believe what he saw (or the scientist side of him wanted, but the rest of Tony told the guy to  _shut up_ and get a clue of their situation).

He was standing in the middle of a spacious room (definitely a ship, and most likely a space kind), ogling at the gray, ugly aliens gathered around him. There were four aliens to be exact, and the three of them he hadn't had the pleasure to meet just earlier were wearing the same white, medical looking robes.  _Oh God, this could not be good._ The one dressed in armor advanced towards him and Tony took a step back. He did NOT want the alien-guy's filthy hands on him again.

"Stay away from me!" he said firmly, stressing nearly every word he uttered. But yet again, the asshole didn't apparently take 'no' as an answer, as it moved forward, with each step making Tony take one backwards. The engineer's back hit the wall, and he knew it was game over. It was time to fight like a madman. He braced himself to take the alien, but awkwardly fell to the floor on his back when the wall slipped up.  _Hahaha, very funny. That trick wasn't even clever and you still got Tony Fucking Stark to fall for-_

The same gray alien grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged his struggling form to the room behind the raised wall. The said wall slid back after the three other aliens had entered the room, and Tony was now trapped in a smaller, completely white room. He saw a examination table in the center of the room. This was starting to painfully resemble the old and corny tales about alien kidnappings. Oh dear Lord, just kill him already. The alien shoved him towards the table and Tony was sent stumbling to grab its edge for balance.

"Hey! Learn some manners! At least buy me dinner first-" He turned around just to have one of the aliens clad in white yanking his chin up. The three were somewhat shorter than Muscles over there, but they were still taller than Tony. It irked him. "Let go of my face, you ugly son of a-" he was once again cut off when the creature tightened its hold, so that the iron grip forced Tony's mouth to stay open. He grabbed the hand holding his chin but it was once again a fruitless effort. Another one came and also took a look into his mouth, rambling something in gibberish to its apparent colleague. Soon the thing let go, and Tony's eyes were being studied instead.  _For the love of God, even the alien's eyes were fucking hideous._ The alien seemed to be content with what it saw and it completely let go of the engineer's face and babbled something to its friends. Tony had the time to sigh in relief before his clothes were being  _ripped off of him._

"Hey! What the _fuck!? Stop it, you lunatics!"_ His breath was starting to quicken.  _They are gonna prod at the arc reactor when they see it, oh my fucking God. They're gonna fucking **take it out** and freaking take a look. _ He kicked and screamed at the aliens stripping him, but it didn't take long before he was stark naked ( _hahaha)_ before the four aliens. At least he had managed to bruise one's face (and his foot at the same, but anyway).

One of the white clothed aliens took a hold of his hands as the other ran its own up and down his body. It didn't leave an inch (not an  _inch)_ untouched and after finishing groping the squirming Tony, it diverted its attention to the reactor embedded in his chest.  _Oh God._ Tony felt the color drain from his face. They were going to take it out. When the thing reached its ugly finger and touched the surface of the reactor, Tony couldn't quite suppress the tremble that rocked his body. He was seriously going to throw up. The alien glanced at Tony's face. Then it took a final look at the reactor and removed its hand from the device. Tony felt like he could breathe a bit easier again. The thing said something to the others again and the two started pulling Tony with them, the tallest one in the armor following closely behind. Tony didn't really feel like fighting back and he knew it wasn't going to work on these guys, so he moved with the flow. It was easier for now.

One of the walls slipped up again, revealing a long hallway. They walked for a while, past metallic/mechanic doors until they took a turn to right. The door (with some yellow markings in gibberish painted on it) whooshed open and Tony was led inside. He was settled in the middle of the small room once again, and he decided to show his defiance by scowling at his captors. The alien that had led the way took a gadget from the wall that looked a lot like a hose and pointed it at Tony. The genius didn't have time to react before a cold shower of liquid (that was a lot like water, though he wasn't entirely sure) was sprayed on him (so it  _was_ a hose). He tried to cover his face from the stream, but the creatures were persistent on (most apparently) cleaning him up. When the procedure was done, warm air started to blow from a went above him. He stood there still, trying to get rid of the coldness on his skin, to the moment until the current stopped. _  
_

He was pushed out of the room and they walked some more, before turning now to the left, entering a very alike door as the one previously. The room was a lot bigger and contained long shelves. One of the aliens wandered around the room for a while, in the end apparently finding what it came for. It dumped a plain-looking, dirty white shirt and a pair of pants into Tony's arms, gesturing at the garments with a grunt. He could dress up _by himself._ Perfect. He quickly pulled the clothes on, appreciating the feeling of something covering his skin (he usually didn't mind being naked, but this was something different), and the cloth was clean and soft despite how ugly it was (there was a lot of ugly going on here with the space monkeys). His small bliss didn't last long though, as the things jerked him to follow them once more.

They walked further along the hallway and turned into another, a bit narrower, hallway. The doors were half as big as the ones on the preceding hallway and it was just as quiet as everywhere else. The only sounds were their footsteps and the faint humming of the spaceship. They stopped before one of the doors and the armored alien pressed his hand against a smallish, glowing screen next to the door.  _So the 'soldiers' were in charge, huh?_ The door slid open with a small hiss and Tony was shoved into a tiny, white room ( _cell,_ his brain corrected correctly) with two mattresses on the floor. He had to blink twice when he saw his apparent roommate sitting on the mattress to Tony's frontal left. The engineer's stomach dropped.  _Holy shit._

_Loki._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the aliens are a complete product of my own imagination, I couldn't find (or more likely I was too lazy to properly look for) an alien race from Marvel that fit my story completely.
> 
> Gang Beasts is a fun, multiplayer game, which you can download online!
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please leave kudos or a comment if you enjoyed it! They always make me very happy.
> 
> <3


	2. Captivity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony learns new things about the life in captivity of the aliens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooo! :)
> 
> Thanks for reading this far, I really enjoy writing this! I'll probably update my other fics next, so it might take time with the next chapter. Please be patient with me!
> 
> Enjoy! <3

Tony gaped like a fish at the raven haired man sitting casually on the floor.

" _You?"_ he finally managed, frowning as he tried to figure out what the fuck was going on. Loki stared back at him, though he didn't look as baffled as the engineer felt.

"Yes, me," the god answered with a blank look and a stoic tone. _Huh._ Tony didn't have time to ogle more, as he was being pushed further to the cubicle and yanked down by his hair.

" _Hey!_ Watch it, dope," he grumbled at the armored alien doing the yanking. He knelt down on the mattress (white, just like the rest of the tiny cell) and before he could stop it, a mechanic collar was being wrapped around his neck. "You sick fuck, _stop!"_ the genius yelled and struggled, but still the collar locked into place and started radiating dim, blue light from the glass-like piece on it. At the same, on the wall to his right a similar light started shining faintly. _A... A leash?!_  

Before Tony could turn his head back, one of the medic-aliens appeared into his line of vision, holding up something that looked unnervingly like a _fucking big syringe_.

"Oh _no! Get. That. Out. Ofmysight!"_ The last three words came out in a rush as the thing crouched and stabbed the head of the injector to Tony's neck, the armored one holding him still. He let out a pained sound as the piston was pushed down and a foreign substance entered his veins. He gasped and shot a hand to hold his neck when the syringe was removed and Muscle's hands let go of him. "You fucker, what was that?!" he barked at the alien, positively nearing a panic attack or maybe an organ failure (who knew what they had given him). He heard a quiet scoff nearby.

"You do realize that they don't understand you, mortal?" Loki ever so helpfully interfered, mild irritation coloring his voice. Tony shifted his gaze from the creatures to Loki, glaring. "And stop your pathetic mewling. It was merely an act to stem your metabolism. So that they do need not to bother feeding you or tending to you other... needs." The trickster watched the departing group of aliens, once eyeing Tony's body, as if to emphasize his words. Their room's doors slid back close once the aliens had exited without any further notice.  _Trapped. With a mad, war criminal Norse god. Golden._

"Fuck!" Tony scrambled to his legs to quickly get to the door. Unfortunately, the collar on his neck stopped the engineer in the middle of the movement, causing him to fall ungracefully back to the mattress next to the wall. "Fuck," he repeated, righting himself to lean on his hands. To see what exactly had happened, he crawled farther away from the light on the wall until a glowing, pale blue beam appeared between the collar's and the wall's lights, preventing any further movement. The more Tony tugged at the collar, the more intensely the beam shimmered, but didn't give in an inch. And he wasn't even two feet far from the light!

The billionaire growled angrily and slumped back to his mattress. The cell felt suffocating, despite the high ceiling and the light colors, as it was only about five feet wide and barely eight feet long. And the staring god next to him didn't make him feel any better. He brushed his hands over his face.

"So," Tony begun as he let his hands drop to his chest. "What are you, of all people, doing in here?" The genius moved his head so he could see the sorcerer. "I thought you'd be in Asgard, rotting in a dungeon or something as fantastic as that." Loki stared at him with an expressionless face. The guy was wearing the same attire as Tony, the loose shirt revealing some of his pale chest. His uncharacteristically disheveled, black hair was in strong contrast with everything else in the room, and his green eyes seemed to be the only speck of color in their cell, so Tony kept his eyes firmly on them.

Loki lowered his eyes to his nails (like they were the world's most interesting damn thing) as he begun to speak,

"You don't consider this a dungeon?" Tony scowled at the god.

"You know what I mean." The air was tense around them, and Loki didn't seem like he wanted to cooperate with him (not that Tony wanted any more, but there weren't many options right now). He cast a sharp look at Tony.

"That is none of your busi-"

"Come on!" the engineer interrupted impatiently. "What does it matter anymore whether you tell me or not?" Loki looked very similar to himself when he had thrown Tony out of a window. Luckily their cell didn't include one. The god then huffed, like he was astonished that Tony even had the nerve to talk to him (but then again, Tony had never been the guy to think ahead).

"Tell. Me-" Loki interrupted him with an angry groan.

"These-" he paused to take a calming breath. "These creatures are  _slave traders,_ if you can't manage to gather that much with your pitiful mortal brain!" Loki hissed at him. "I was _taken_ from that cursed cell in Asgard, and apparently so were you from your precious little tower. Considering that we remain in the same  _transport container,_ we are being sold to the same place, and these things are doing the transporting and selling." Loki pushed a lump of hair from his face and drew in a slow breath. He leaned back against the wall heavily, closing his blazing eyes. "And I happen to have a rather strong hunch of where that is," he added softly, abruptly looking years (or in this particular guy's case,  _millenniums)_ older. He didn't even seem to care about the fact that he was showing weakness in front of Tony, which already pretty much made clear that it wasn't anything enjoyable what they were about to face. But the god's explanation did clear some questions he had been wondering about. But not all, of course.

"Okay..." he drawled, locking his eyes to the ceiling. One oblong lamp shined bright, white (of course it's white, what were you expecting?) light into their _container_. "So, why would they, whoever _they_ are, want  _us?"_ He motioned with his hands to underline his obscurity. Loki was silent for a while, scowling at him, Tony noted when he turned to look at the trickster.

"Use that  _praised_ mind of yours, would you, Stark? Or is all I've heard about it solely some meaningless testimonial?" the god snapped, voice piqued and very much fed up. The engineer couldn't blame him. He turned his face back to the roof. The information about 'Tony's mind' Loki had heard was probably gained from Clint, and maybe even Thor, and it made Tony wonder if Clint knew how much he had given away to the war criminal. The archer had claimed that Loki had only been interested in some basic stuff, and Tony believed that for now.

But what about the real question? Why were they here? Loki he could fathom, since the guy was apparently a talented sorcerer (though Tony was still positive that magic was only very highly developed technology/science) and a highly wanted criminal. But where would they need Loki? To lead fucking troops in some alien war?

Hell no was Tony going to get involved in that. And why would he? You know, not a warrior here (or, _kind of_ maybe, since he was Iron Man). Well, of course you have to admit, he  _was_  likely one of the most intelligent human beings on Earth, handsome enough to kill for, and he _had_ been the world's biggest and the most successful weapon manufacturer and... Fuck. It might have something to do with that. Or then with the whole nuke and wormhole thing?  _And_ if you think along those lines, then perhaps even about  _the arc reactor._

His next breath caught in his throat when he reached that conclusion. If there was a connection between magic and science, could it be the ac reactor? The piece of technology indeed was way ahead its time. He thought about the moment in his penthouse, when Loki's staff had touched its surface and the magic had been absorbed into the glowing device. It wasn't the first time he was wondering that, but it always came to the same question: what had happened? And to continue, it might mean that the alien's earlier interest to the arc reactor hadn't necessarily been just pure curiosity. Tony had to repress a shudder.

"So it's basically your fault," he said to distract himself and to fill the silence, gazing at Loki, eyes narrowed. The guy was still looking at him, though he now seemed less angry.

"That you're trapped in here? If you wish to think it that way then I believe I indeed  _am_ to blame." Tony tightened his fisted hands a little. "But mind you, I did not ask for you, or myself, to be captured. So it is rather rude to claim so, don't you agree? I mean, it was _you_ who could not defeat your foes." Tony wasn't going to point out that there had been only  _one_  'foe' to get him. Instead he kept staring at Loki, who was frowning at him like they were talking about something very important and serious (or like he was scolding a kid), but the irritation still remained, purposely poorly hidden, in his voice. The engineer sighed.

"Shut your face, Reindeer Games. I'm mad at you." He knew he sounded childish but couldn't care less right now. He thought he was doing pretty good, actually.  _I mean, you don't get abducted by alien's every day, huh? So, considering that I'm not in the middle of a massive fucking panic attack, I think it's going very good so far._ "And why haven't you still magicked yourself out of here? I thought you had a thing for teleportation and voodoo and all that," the genius continued, rolling to his stomach on the mattress. He craned his neck so that he saw Loki instead of the sadly closed door.

The god was glaring at him with enough venom to make Tony think back his words, and then turned to his side and lay down. _Oh, great._

"Aw, come _on!"_ Tony exclaimed and threw his hand towards the god. "Did I hurt your feelings? When I told you to shut up I didn't mean it this literally." No reaction, only stifling silence. Tony hated it. "I though we were having a nice conversation here. Making progress you know, no more alien armies and throwing people out of windows," he provoked. Loki remained silent. "Ugh, fine, keep your _mystique_ , jerk." Tony glared at the lying form of the god on his mattress, when the lights abruptly switched off with a dull snap. It was pitch black in their cell.  _Nice, we have a bedtime. That's new._ He sighed again and turned to lie on his side, face to wall. He curled himself up to keep warm without a blanket (though it wasn't cold at all in the room) and eventually closed his eyes. He kept thinking about his team and others, how they must be freaking out by now. He lay there hours in silence, before finally drifting to blank unconsciousness.

 

* * *

 

"I didn't take you as a person to sleep in such a modest fashion." He was woken from his light sleep by Loki's nonchalant voice. Tony groaned, rubbed his eyes and looked over his shoulder to glance at the god. Loki was sitting in a similar position as yesterday (was it a new day? He wasn't sure whether the aliens measured time similarly, and it was hard tracking it, you know, with no clocks and his own biological clock pretty much messed up anyway), carding his fingers through the messy, black locks. He was smirking smugly at the engineer.  _Asshole._ _  
_

"The things you learn," Tony said colorlessly, pushing himself to sit up. He didn't bother lying about coldness, since he was pretty sure that a God of Lies would see through it (even with Tony's outstanding lying abilities). " _I_ didn't take you as someone thin-skinned,  _princess_." Tony watched with satisfaction as Loki's smirk slipped away, his hands stopping combing his hair as he bristled at Tony's words (especially at the 'princess' part). So he got to hit where it hurts. He smiled one of his press smiles. Loki frowned some more.

"I merely chose not to answer your arrogant query, as it does not concern you in any way," he told the engineer with an air of nobility and annoyance. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, right, whatever you say,  _my lady,_ " he bowed his upper body slightly, keeping his eyes on the god opposite to him. As the words fell from his mouth, anger, rage and hurt (he wasn't sure about the last one, since it was so brief and anyway  _hurt?)_ flashed in Loki's eyes. For the first time, Tony was grateful about the collars that bounded them to the walls, for he was sure that the god would have jumped him without it. Instead, he gave an angry, soft snarl and turned his head away from Tony. Back to square one, then.

He let his head drop, chin to chest, as he still a bit groggily tried to tame his hair. It didn't do much, but ultimately, there weren't that many people who were going to see his appearance. And their attention would probably drawn to the poor excuse of clothing he was currently wearing, and the collar around his neck certainly didn't make him prettier.

Tony raised his head back up. If he was going to spend time here, he should make some use of it. He turned around so that he was face to wall and eyed the blue light, embedded to the wall about three feet above the floor. He rose to his knees and peered at the light. He didn't see any sort of machinery, and the blue light seemed to consist of energy.  _Or magic,_ he added reluctantly. Magic was something he couldn't get at all. But the guy not four feet far from him could, and with expertise. It pissed him off.

The engineer first tapped at the transparent surface between him and the source of the light, then slammed his fist against it a few times. It didn't work ( ~~obviously~~ ). He tried to claw it out of the wall, to break the glass-like cover and felt the wall around it with the palms of his hands.

Giving up for now, he then backed the small distance before the string of blue light appeared as the collar halted him. Tony poked at the beam, and quickly drew his hand back as the contact gave him a small electric shock of some kind.

"Fuck!" he hissed as he pushed his finger into his mouth. So it  _was_ electricity? Or magic and electricity? He yanked at the collar a couple times, sighed in submission and threw himself back to lean his spine against the wall. How long was he supposed to spend in this awful container without any activity? He was going to lose his mind! His mind _craved_ for work. With that thought, Tony let his attention spring to the only thing interesting in their cell; Loki. His eyes roamed over the god's body.

The guy was sitting, his spine straight and legs folded in a lotus position. His hands rested on his knees and his eyes were closed, neck bowed so that his head drooped a little. The god seemed either to be asleep (in a very uncomfortable stance, to say) or perhaps meditating (which was more likely, since there was really nothing much to do here (though Tony was sure that Loki had watched his doings for a long while before deciding upon being uninterested), and it would be the only reasonable explanation for the weird sleep-like state).

Tony banged his head against the wall. _Nothing to do._

In lack of activity, he started repeating equations (especially the ones Bruce had mumbled to him the other day) in his head, working on his projects and storing new ideas for the future. When he found that it couldn't keep him occupied any longer, since it made him start thinking about home ( _home dammit,_ he was so going to get back) and thus start drifting towards melancholy, he looked at the god again. He was still engrossed with meditation (God, Tony envied him, to be able to shut his mind like that), breathing calm and limbs motionless. He started counting the god's lashes, trying to decide whether his skin color was fair or more of a light and following the lines of his body with his eyes. Even though the guy was an ass, Tony had to admit that he was hot. His inner ramblings were interrupted though, when he snapped to reality as he felt a pair of green eyes boring into his own. Loki smirked knowingly and cocked his head as he adjusted his position into something more comfortable.

"Do you enjoy what you see, Stark?" Tony felt an involuntary blush creep up his cheeks ( _Tony Stark did not fucking **blush**!) _ and furrowed his brow at the god.

"Maybe I do," he said, watching as Loki raised his eyebrows at that. "But I still think that Thor'd win the beauty pageant." His face changed quickly form vaguely amused back to angry. Tony was being unnecessarily cruel for bringing Thor up among everything else, he knew, but he couldn't help it. Loki  _had_ destroyed half of New York  _and_ thrown him out of a window ( _no,_ he was _not_ going to drop that anytime soon). The billionaire sighed and leaned the back of his head against the wall.

"So, how was meditation? Any ideas how we're gonna escape?" He eyed the wall above Loki's head, wishing it would somehow vanish if he stared at it long enough. Loki snorted.

" _We?_ My apologies, but _we_ are not fleeing this prison. If _I_ somehow manage to cave my way out, I certainly will  _not_ take you with me." Well, _that went good._ He banged his head again.

"Thanks," he begun, feeling fed up with all this shit. "I'll just take that as a no." Loki rolled his eyes at Tony's small grin. "So, how do you spend time here? It's a bit ascetic for my taste, you know." Loki pursed his lips and eyed Tony with disinterest and incredulity.

"This is all there is." He gestured lazily around him with his hand. "You can sit," a nod at Tony. "lay," a glance at his mattress. "or sit," he finished, smirking devilishly. It was Tony's turn to roll his eyes.

"Okay, I get it. Not much to do." He started fiddling with the threads of his hems to keep his hands occupied. "Ready to tell me about the magic thing?" Loki's eyes hardened at the question. "Relax! I thought that you could take a look at those lights," he jerked his chin towards the light on the wall behind staring and scowling Loki's head. "since I can't figure them out. You know, just a puny mortal mechanic here." He smiled sheepishly at the trickster, shrugging and lifting his hands. "I mean, if you can, that is. Your hocus pocus seemed to be a little sensitive subject last time I brought it up..." he drawled, carefully watching Loki's face for emotions (and in vain, as it was a perfect imitation of those expressionless marble statues' faces in museums). The sorcerer kept ogling at him for a while longer before lowering his eyes to their feet, extended on the white, hard floor. His jaw tensed.

"I cannot break our restrains," the god admitted. He raised his eyes back to Tony's. "And even if I could, it shouldn't concern you, for I would still leave you here to beg for mercy from those appalling creatures. As I told you a few moments prior." Loki didn't seem angry anymore, just talking like he was stating the facts. Tony opted to go with exhaling quickly and loudly through his nose.

They sat there in ( ~~suffocating~~ ) silence for the rest of the day (was it a day? He kept counting minutes in the back of his mind, and it seemed about as long as the days on Earth), Tony occasionally asking something or pointing something out, and Loki answering with snark and indifference, until the lights slammed shut.

The engineer lay down on his mattress after his cellmate, staring at the wall and playing Bruce's equations on repeat in his head.

 

* * *

 

The days passed in a bored haze, mostly spent sitting in silence or bickering about something with the resident god, going through the same routine and emptiness of each day. The lights turned on, they woke up, rose to sit, made little to no movement, the lights went out and they went back to sleep.

If either one of them ever woke up sweaty, trembling and screaming from nightmares, the other never commented on it, just let it go as if there was a mutual, silent agreement.

Every third day, they were taken out of their cell and they were walkedseparately to different rooms with hoses, washed and dried, and given a fresh set of clothing, and then walked back to the same cell. The mattresses were also being frequently changed, and there never was any dust in the air or on the floor, so Tony couldn't complain about hygiene of the place (though it would be nice to shower perhaps even daily, with _warm_ water, _by_ _himself_ and with bottles of expensive shower gel, shampoo and conditioner). The collar also never left his neck, though the aliens checked for any injuries or rash as they switched the light/bond system off so that they could get up and follow them around.

Tony was also pleased (or as pleased as you can in a situation like this) to find that on every day following the "shower day" the aliens allowed them to walk freely in a spacious (white and plain) room, though it was only for about twenty minutes and there were no other prisoners but himself (though the engineer wasn't sure whether he even wanted to meet other _inmates)_. Tony spent them running laps and exercising. You know, push-ups and stuff. Loki in turn, went there usually after or before him, so he concluded that it was the same for him.

Thus the relatively many times they were released from that awful container, Tony had often tried to break free from these fuckers. He had yet to succeed. But the bright side was that unlike the times when he had unsuccessfully escaped from kidnappers on Earth (yes, that had happened. Both, the kidnappings and getting caught again once getting almost free), no one beat him as a lesson or even threatened him. They just continued as if nothing had ever happened.

See, these things take good care of their merchandise.

He had also gained more knowledge of their captors. According to Loki, these guys' space ship was huge, (which Tony didn't find hard to believe) and they were experts in using portals and also finding and traveling through wormholes (it was also easy to believe, since he bet that  _someone_ would have noticed an enormous freaking UFO hovering in the air right by his tower).

It also seemed that Loki understood what the alien's were speaking (and that they also understood the little Loki told them in English), which he curtly explained was thanks to Allspeak, whatever it was.

According to Tony's calculations, it was now the 25th day since Tony's abduction (apparently more since the day Loki had bee taken, but Tony wasn't sure about the exact amount of days (the god was a man of few words)), and it had begun as uneventfully as every other day preceding. Yesterday had been a "shower day", so today would be a "walking day", and Tony found himself eagerly waiting to get to move.

Except that no alien came about the time they usually came to get them. Loki seemed to also notice this, as he kept eyeing the door suspiciously and alternately clenching and unclenching his fists in his lap.

When the door finally slid open, two aliens marched in, one clad in white and the other in the usual armor of theirs.

"We have reached our destination, it seems," Loki said, probably to Tony, since(as usual) it went ignored by the aliens. The sorcerer kept his sight trained on the creatures though, and Tony never let his own stray to Loki for long either.

The alien wearing white approached them. It crouched before Loki and brought a small device to his collar (the one they always used to turn the thing off). The light died and the alien turned to Tony, repeating the process. Tony watched as the guard took a menacing step further into the cell, staring at Loki, as if to make clear that he wasn't going to get far if he tried to escape. The alien crouching on the floor slipped the device into his pocket and pulled a similar one out. Loki's eyes widened a bit as he saw it.

"You must be joking," he said, frowning distraughtly. The alien smiled an ugly grin and thrust its hand towards Loki's neck. The trickster jerked back, mouth a tight and defiant line, and the guard lunged to grab him by his shoulder. Tony saw his chance and sprung towards the door. Unfortunately, the alien's unoccupied hand appeared before his face and wrapped itself around the engineers throat. He struggled but the grip was tight and he couldn't get away from it. The pressure was uncomfortable, but it allowed him to breathe, so he gave up and just stood there when the other alien brought the same device to his collar in turn. Loki was sitting on the floor, looking like he could murder someone.

Tony was let go, and he stumbled before regaining his balance. He looked to his right where Loki was also made to stand, before they were being pushed to the hallway. Another armored alien was waiting for them there, and as they stepped out of their container, it clicked a pair of thick, electronic handcuffs around their wrists in order of appearance. Tony frowned at the handcuffs. _Stupid piece of shit._

About six feet before him, Loki was shoved to move forward by one of the guards. Unexpected as it came, Tony fell face-first to the ground as he felt a strong pull centered in his neck.  _What the fuck?_ He glanced up at Loki who was staggering slightly and glaring hostilely at the uglily snickering aliens and Tony. The brunette could already see where this was going.  _Oh God, no._

The engineer rose to his feet and leaned his upper body back experimentally. He felt pressure where the collar pressed against his neck and saw a blue line appear between his and Loki's collars. He felt his own face morph into disbelief and slight terror, as he watched Loki's annoyed and troubled one.

The alien behind him nudged Tony to move with a sharp jab, and the genius complied with a flounder, swearing inwardly.  _Fuck._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Please leave a comment or kudos if you did!
> 
> See you! <3


	3. Transporting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Loki move into new living conditions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooo! c:
> 
> Here you go; the third chapter. Sorry it took a while, I really hope you enjoy it!
> 
> I thought that since Tony's but a normal human being (a superhero, yeah, but otherwise a normal human being), there'd be some (umm negative?) consequences if he was to be abducted. So, here's the result. ;P

They kept walking on an endless hallway, Tony quietly cursing in his mind, avoiding even glancing at the god walking beside him. Loki for his part, kept glaring daggers at him (which was  _totally_ unnecessary, he already got that the guy was upset, damn it) and Tony felt slightly (read _very)_  uncomfortable under the scrutinizing.

He sighed grumpily. He would try escaping, but it had alreadyearlier turned out to be a futile effort. After a few pathetic attempts by themselves, they had even cooperated (if iteven can be called cooperating) with Loki, as they deemed it to be inevitable because of the collars. The trickster had first tackled the alien clad in white (because it looked _a bit_ weaker than the "guard aliens", as Tony had dubbed them), after which they had ran like hell, bumping past the other guard on their way. They had managed a great distance of sixteen feet, before an alien had grabbed Tony by his clothes, causing him to nearly break his neck, choke Loki and succeed in making him tumble and hit the ground, ass first. It had been one hell of a sight. Which was probably why the said god was pissed as fuck.

But like he could help it! Even Loki couldn't fight these things off, how did he expect that he could? Tony was realistic enough to understand that there was a certain difference between the brawn of a human individual and an alien (any kind of alien, apparently) one. And he didn't even have his suit on!

He huffed in annoyance. Fucking aliens.

All at once, the five aliens stalled (they had gotten a couple more to walk them, as it seemed that they weren't in the mood for Tony and Loki's shit right now) and the two prisoners were seized by their shoulders and turned around. They were now facing the backs of two alien guards standing before one of the mechanic doors, other aliens staying behind them. The hands on their shoulders kept clutching even as the door opened with a hiss and they entered the room.

Tony was shoved forward, tugging Loki with him, and he vigorously whipped his head around to take in the room. It was small (though probably at least three or four times as big as their cell) and ( _ ~~again~~ ) _completely white, plain and  _awful_. On the each side of the room (cell, more likely), there was a (unnecessary to say, but a white) bench embedded to the wall, otherwise it being just all perfect lines and straight surfaces; walls, floor and ceiling.

He could feel his resolve grumbling. _No more of this._ He _despised_  this place.

Tony's momentary inner breaking was interrupted (just as everything else seemed to be interrupted or disrupted around here) when another syringe was plunged into his neck. He grunted audibly in pain, and squeezed his eyes shut. The needle was quickly pulled out and the engineer hunched his shoulder up, trying to press it against the small puncture wound and adding his still shackled hands to the mess. He decided it looked pitiful, so after wiping at the tiny hole and checking his hands to make sure he wasn't bleeding to death, Tony dropped them back before him and watched as the aliens were finishing with Loki. Without a word (or acknowledging Tony swearing at them) the aliens left the room, the door locking shit. Tony glanced at Loki. He looked back.

"Antiserum," the (ex?) sorcerer said colorlessly. Tony snorted, shifting his eyes to the floor and trailing along it.

"Figures." He saw the bench to his right and decided it was a good enough place to reside for now. The billionaire took a few steps towards it before a neck-breaking pressure on his collar stopped him and the room swung around.

 _Jesus fucking Christ, motherfucker._  Tony ogled at the ceiling maliciously. Luckily, he hadn't hit his head when he had fallen, but it still hurt like a bitch. He craned his neck to glare at the god, standing there on his feet, totally unimpressed. Tony narrowed his eyes.

"Fuck you," he told Loki, who for his part scoffed softly and smirked, not even glancing at him. Tony frowned at the guy and continued, "I'm sitting there, so move your ass, Rudolph." He defiantly stared up at the god after gesturing to the bench he'd been attempting to occupy. Loki raised a cocky eyebrow at him.

"We shall see about that, mortal," he said with a calm yet scornful tone. The trickster then turned around and begun pacing towards the bench on the left side of the cell. Tony grunted and grasped his collar in attempt to evade suffocation, trying hard not to be dragged to the other side of the room (the whole ordeal _might_ seem childish and stubborn, but if yes, then you're wrong).

The struggles were in vain, of course. Even without his magic mojo (as he began to be more and more convinced that Loki (for one reason or another) wasn't able to use the said mojo), the god was still stronger than a normal (he was normal, right?) human being (which was totally fine, of course. If they would  _somehow_ be able to escape their captors, Tony'd be the first one to go. And by _'the first one to go'_ he meant the first one to  _be freaking beheaded),_  so Tony reluctantly let himself be dragged the (fortunately) small distance. And if something, then  _that_ did things to one's self-esteem. So, to come off as the one in charge of the situation, he stayed lying on the ground, arms mentally crossed over his chest (as he couldn't maintain the position with the cuffs binding his wrists together) and angrily glaring at the ceiling, like it had somehow personally offended him. Loki sat down on the bench and focused his eyes on the opposite wall. The engineer looked at him, narrowing his eyes again.  _Spoiled brat._

He would've made a quip about his magic gone missing now that it had popped up in his mind again, just to spite the god, but he then remembered the last time he had come up with joking about performance issues to the guy (and that damn window, of course) and the fact that they were no longer chained to separate walls. So he refrained. Just to, you know, freaking  _stay alive_  until he got the chance to break free.

He sighed. It was going to be a long day.

 

* * *

 

They kept waiting in the room for some time. It was hard tracking time, since Tony kept occasionally dozing off, despite the hard floor beneath him (yes, he was still lying on the floor. And no, he wasn't going to get up) and he was too proud to ask Loki. (Though Loki might have not been much of a help, as he seemed to be in a trance of some sort, just staring at the wall before him.)

It must have been hours, when the doors finally opened, and the two captives surged up to their feet. One of the resident aliens (clad in white) stepped into the room with two other, more slim aliens by its sides.

Tony felt his eyes widen.  _Chitauris._

"What the fu-" Cutting Tony's exclaim short, the white-clad alien pointed at them with a small device and instantly they were sent spinning around as their wrists, bound by handcuffs, hit the wall. A tiny hatch opened on the wall under his hands and machinery locked with the restrains. Tony gave them a yank.  _Stuck._

He turned to eye the aliens. The white clothed alien was standing and watching as one Chitauri was approaching Loki, the other making its way to Tony. He struggled again but the cuffs didn't yield. When it came close enough, the Chitauri grabbed him by his neck and pulled his head backwards a little. Tony was glad it was wearing the usual helmet, so that he didn't have to look at its fugly face.

It turned his head a few times before forcing his mouth open. Tony tried to back his head the fuck away from the stinky alien, but the Chitauri still managed to have a long look into his mouth and  _even fucking probe its finger in it._ Tony spat at the Chitauri once his face was released. Unfortunately, it didn't hit the target as it had already moved, now rounding him. It pulled a small dagger from somewhere its armor.

"No," Tony said firmly. "You're  _not_ coming near me with that thing in you filthy paws-" The Chitauri ripped through the fabric of his (hideous, mind you) clothes and Tony was now buck ass naked, the white shreds, his clothes just a second ago, on piles by his feet. Never mind how terrible of a fashion flop they'd been or what he'd ever said about them, but he would really rather have them on now than be completely nude in front of  _four aliens_ from  _three different races_ on a _humongous motherfucking spaceship_ in  _who knows fucking where._

The engineer glared at the Chitauri, his limbs starting to tremble slightly (obviously from the temperature, since it was freaking cold, dammit) _._ He felt the familiar panic beginning to rise within his chest, and hunched his shoulders (aiming for an unnoticeable movement) to shield the arc reactor from sight.

The Chitauri (ass as it was) anyway took a step forward and started smoothing its dirty grey hands over the squirming Tony, like it was a _customer_ checking its  _goods_. He shuddered as its hands moved down his back and then to the front, closing Tony in a sick imitation of hug. The touch made him feel nauseous and he kept swallowing and blinking to keep it under control.

The hands stopped not an inch from the light bulb in his chest and Tony's breath caught in his throat. They continued their intrusive movement and the engineer had to screw his eyes shut. _God, I'm so gonna throw up._

The groping luckily didn't last long, as the arc reactor seemingly had been the last spot to "check". Tony opened his eyes and saw Loki eyeing him, face expressionless, by his left. He didn't maintain the contact as the cuffs were released from the wall. He staggered backwards a little before turning to see the two Chitauris pointing at them with light colored things in their fists. Tony had already learned that pointing never meant anything good.

Out of the blue, the two started leaving the room. Tony glanced at Loki with a baffled expression. The god was frowning.

But then, Tony felt a familiar, strong yank at his neck as a blue line appeared, glowing in the air before him. Loki was also pulled forth and he bumped against Tony, nearly making him trip. Tony glared at the guy, but it was met by a smirk that clearly said a sarcastic and very fake and mischievous "oops". He gave a soft and angry sigh but moved along when the collar was being tugged again. (Well, it wasn't like he actually had a choice, but moving on.)

They walked along the hallway (yes, both still very naked. How did Loki have that much muscle on him? The guy was a freaking string bean, it should be practically impossible! And yes, of course Tony checked out the _naked god_ walking next to him. What a waste would it be not to. Never let it to be said that Tony Stark wasn't curious. Though he kept his eyes above the god's waist, since Loki was glaring at him pretty hostilely. Or maybe he was enjoying the view also? Never let it be said either that Tony Stark wasn't one hot piece of ass. Not to brag but still, he was), the two Chitauris leading the way and the alien, now accompanied by a guard alien, following closely behind.

They didn't have to walk long until they arrived to a large (biggest one Tony'd seen on the ship so far) door. It slid open, revealing a room that looked completely out of the ship they had been on. Instead of white and light gray, accompanied by a dash of yellow once in a while, the room was dim and coated with shiny, dark metal, the yellow replaced by an ominous, almost neon red. It was harsh and unforgiving. Tony bet that this was one of the portal thingies the aliens were said to be (that Loki said to be) specialized in, and that the room before them was the Chitauri's ship. The Chitauris continued on their path.

Tony tried to slow the other Chitauri down with his 'leash', leaning backwards and digging the heels of his feet to the hard floor, but he was dragged to the other side with no difficulties. He even felt the change in the air as they moved from one ship to another, something he now remembered he might have felt when he'd been abducted in the first place.

The 'leashes' flickered out of existence and one of the Chitauri walked back over to the other two aliens. After a brief discussion, it handed them something that was most likely currency around here. They eyed it over and gibbered something that sounded like an approval. When the Chitauri stepped away from the aliens' ship, the light and bright hallway zapped away, like it had been a hologram or something similar all along. The Chitauri turned to them, and suddenly, Tony missed that awful slave ship. As twisted as it was.

Loki tensed by his side and took a step away from the Chitauris on both of their sides. The movement made the bond between them strain and Tony had to take a following step after the trickster, to reduce the uncomfortable pressure on his throat. Loki looked like he wanted to groan loudly at that, so Tony sent a glare his way.

A sharp grunt pulled them away from their silent bickering and they turned to look at the Chitauri that had executed the _purchasing_. Tony narrowed his eyes at it. It was pointing at them with a scepter, a similar one to the ones that the Chitauri foot soldiers had had back in New York. God knows where it'd gotten it from in such a small amount of time. It gestured for them to follow the other Chitauri behind their backs with it. Loki froze where he stood, looking murderous.

The Chitauri gave a sound that could maybe be called a scoff and charged at them, scepter swinging ahead. Loki ducked the alien's attack but the spear continued its track and stopped barely an inch from Tony's face. _Uhm..._  At the same, the other Chitauri pressed its scepter against the god's back. Loki's eyes moved furiously from side to side, but seemingly came to the same conclusion as Tony did _._ Any following movement would result in either a missing limb or a sack of dead mortal meat, shackled to him, lying motionless on the ground and thus preventing escape. Not that he by himself or they together had any chance even getting out of the ship. Not without Loki's magic or a way out.

So, they moved through the door with the scepters against their backs. They walked a short hallway, dimly lit with blue light, into another room. There, something was thrown at his back.

Tony spun around preparing for a fight. No fight came, and after glancing at the Chitauri, the engineer looked down to his feet. There lay a pair of tight-looking leather pants and a sleeveless shirt with a high collar, made of the same material.  _Well, at least they're better-looking than the shit we had to wear with the other guys._

The cuffs gave a hiss as they opened and dropped to the ground. Tony groaned and rubbed at his sore wrists. Those things had chafed the living shit out of him! He quickly glanced at the Chitauri again, but then picked up the trousers. He swiftly pulled them on and then grabbed the shirt, proceeding similarly. Though this time, when his head emerged from under the neckline, there was a Chitauri staring at him. He would've hit the thing if his hands hadn't still been occupied with the shirt, but he  _did_ jump like crazy.

"Motherfucker..." the genius hissed. He didn't have much time to recover from the scare, before the Chitauri gripped his electronic collar harshly and brought a tiny, maybe a little key-like device to it. It touched the collar, and it shattered to bits, the pieces of machinery pattering against Tony's chest and shoulders. The Chitauri only savored the blue gem thingy and held it on its palm. Tony watched in mild shock.  _Why would they remove the collar?_

He didn't have to wonder long though, as the Chitauri then unceremoniously and roughly straightened his shirt's collar up, tugging the clasps of it tightly closed, not caring of Tony's hands trying to stop its own, and pressed the shining blue thing against it, to the front and center of Tony's throat. He didn't have time to swat the hands away before the dim light made a quiet whirring noise, locking to its place.  _Handy,_ Tony had to give them that. The Chitauri gave a grunt or a snarl and stepped back.

Tony glared murderously at it and then eyed his attire. The leather was stiff and uncomfortable against his skin, and the clothes were colored in dark grey and black, highlighted with blood-red. He'd had to literally wrench the top piece on him, as it was very snug, and now that the engineer tried to loosen the clasps fastened in the middle of his chest and abdomen, securing the cloth tight on him, he found that they wouldn't budge. Not an inch. The pants for their part hugged the genius' legs and ass tightly. He huffed frustratedly. The previous clothes he'd had had at least been loose and somewhat comfortable.

He sent a look towards Loki. The god was wearing the exact replica of his clothes, only longer and slightly slimmer in size. He caught Tony's gaze the moment it landed on him, face scrunched up in a frown. The Chitauris were motioning them to move, and the two men pissedly complied. They continued into another hallway before Tony was shoved into a fairly large cell (or at least large compared to their earlier one), Loki being pushed to the one opposite to his.

The walls were dark and metallic and the floor was cold against his bare feet. The room was dim and very empty, only varieties in it being one window-like thing on the ceiling, shining a gloomy, blueish light, a hard-looking overhang on the wall, probably to serve as a (freaking uncomfortable one for sure) bed or a bench, the doorway he'd just entered through and a smallish niche on the wall opposite to the overhang. The niche's bottom had a dark hole in the center of it, and Tony didn't even want to think what the whole installation was for. _Fan-fucking-tastic._

As soon as the Chitauri had deposited him, it exited through the door and it locked with a loud clunk. There was a square shaped shaft on the door, about on the height of his face. He could see Loki through it, who was standing still in his own cage. The aliens had seemingly altered the bond somehow, as they were now able to separate the length of the hallway and their cells (as Tony soon learned when Loki started pacing in his own one), though the blue line appeared at the instant they both happened to stand by the wall opposite to their cell doors, the farthest they could get from each other and the hallway. 20 feet, perhaps.

Well, at least there now was a privacy of some sort.

Tony groaned softly and slumped heavily on the unforgiving bench/bed/overhang/whatever, brushing a stressed hand through his dark locks. He leaned against his knees, thinking. He had no idea of what the aliens were going to do with him, no idea where the fuck he even was, and no idea if he'd ever get back. Back to  _home_ and to his  _family_.

The billionaire eyed the floor, feeling tormented by his inability to do anything. Instead, he focused on his teammates, his family and friends, to stop the pathetic dwelling in self-pity. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts flow freely.

The first thing to pop up in Tony's mind, was the mother hen frown Steve always wore when he eyed Tony after a long night down in the workshop. He also remembered the delicious pancakes the captain made when he was feeling extra cheery. Now that it was online and working again, his stomach growled a bit when he came to the said pancakes. He tried to silence it with a mental scolding.

In the next moment, Pepper was smiling at his jokes, with her painted red lips, and then nagging good-naturedly about something so everyday. Her hair was tied up in a brisk ponytail and her perfume was as familiar as ever. A small smile tugged at Tony's lips.

Looking back to the shared moments with Happy, he remembered how the man was always so passionate about his job and how he held it in such a high value it. He really should hang out with Happy more often. And he would, if he ever got back ( _once he got back,_  Tony corrected).

He then recalled Clint sticking his head from random air shafts around the tower and the playful grin the archer always wore when doing so. What a simple guy, Tony'd often thought. But now he knew better than that.

He lived again the moments when Natasha had tackled him in the ring, attempting to teach him self-defense (which, according to her, he knew too little about), and then compared it with the sleepy redhead sipping coffee in loose pajamas or small t-shirts and shorts.

He thought about Thor enjoying every moment to the fullest when they watched a movie on a movie night, then him devouring a full box of Pop-Tarts in minutes. That guy was like a machine.

He remembered Rhodey, his oldest friend, sharing a beer with him, laughing at something silly and ruffling Tony's hair.

Lastly, he though about Bruce, Bruce's equations, and the way the scientist's hair was tousled and sticking against his cheek after an all-nighter. The warm smile he often flashed at Tony.

Now that he was finally alone, and didn't need to conceal it anymore, Tony couldn't stop it as his façade slipped away. His face scrunched up in pain and his shoulders shook as hard and stifled sobs wrecked his frame. He pulled his knees up, burying his face against the leather covering them. He wanted this all to be over, at this instant. Then wanted to stop being such a kid at the same, just be a man and suck it up. He wanted to fucking strangle those fucking Chitauris and the assholes back in the slave ship.

Above it all, he wanted to get back home. _So bad_. He couldn't quite silence the soft cry that escaped his mouth.

No matter how many times or how hard he tried, Tony couldn't stop the raw emotion coursing through him. As a result, he sat there for a long time, trembling, but otherwise motionless, letting it all out, until the hot tears finally ceased to stream down his cheeks. Until the tired and now tearless crying evened out and his hiccuping breaths calmed at last. Then he wiped his face, using the palms of his hands, and lay down, watching the door with an empty feeling lingering in his chest. He eventually drifted off to the sound of Loki's quiet steps, as the god paced in an endless circle in the cell opposite to Tony's. _  
_

He sucked in a shaky, yet determined breath. Tony Stark wouldn't give up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope Tony's and Loki's new outfits sound, at least, somewhat plausible, as they're once again completely something of my own...
> 
> Please, leave a comment and/or kudos if you enjoyed! <3


	4. Day one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Changes in environment and accustoming into a new routine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiii! c:
> 
> Here's a new chapter, I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> WARNING: torture in this chapter

Tony jerked awake to a loud clank. He quickly got up to sit on his bunk (he'd decided to call it a bunk) and shot his eyes towards the door of his cell. His back was aching like crazy because of the night (Tony supposed it'd been a night) spent lying on the hard bunk and craning his neck sent spikes of hot pain shooting down his spine, accompanied by a noisy crack.

The noises he'd woken up to weren't coming from his door being opened, but even when he couldn't see through the hole on the door from this angle, he could easily tell that they were coming from Loki's. He surged to his feet to look from the hole and found a pair of ass-ugly Chitauris standing in the hallway and two more hauling the God of Mischief out of his cell. The other turned and as it caught Tony looking, it grasped the handle of Tony's door and started clicking the lock mechanisms open. Again, the angle was wrong for Tony to seeexactly what the jerk was doing, but he tried anyway, bouncing on his feet and reaching his neck.

The door was pulled open and two Chitauris barged in, charging right to grasp his arms. He managed to deliver a vicious kick to the other's calf before handcuffs tied his hands behind his back and he was being shoved to the hallway. He turned to glare hostilely at the Chitauris and caught a glimpse of Loki staring at him at the same. He turned his glare, now more of a cynical one, towards him instead, finding the guy eyeing him with interest. Like someone looking at an interesting animal in a menagerie or while attending to a pet show. Evaluating and calculating.

He didn't like it the slightest, so he narrowed his eyes at the god just as they were poked to move forward. The Chitauris chose a brisk pace and they walked some time along serpentine hallways, Tony counting the turns they took and memorizing the symbols on the doors they passed, all silently in his mind.

They stopped before a fairly large door, made out of different metal than the other ones. One Chitauri pressed the tip of its scepter against the door, lighting it and a rune up on the door with the same blue glow. They waited a moment before the door opened, splitting into half from the centre. It was dark inside, and the respectful air around the Chitauris made it obvious that in the room there'd be some sort of a boss of their's.

Tony's heart was beating heavily in his chest and his stomach ached _(against his will)_ as they entered the ominous room.

It was a large, hall-like room and too dimly lit to really see anything clearly. They strolled quickly to what Tony thought was about the centre of the room and stopped. One of the Chitauris let out a screech and Tony noticed Loki slightly stiffening by his side.

"Welcome," said a rough voice before them. He snapped his face towards it, seeing movement in the shadows and heard slow steps being taken. Tony glanced at Loki by his side, and saw a faint sheen of sweat covering his brow. His eyes were glued to the same spot as Tony's had just a moment ago.

"Loki," the voice said in a sneer, and Loki's nose scrunched up in distaste. There was a small pause as the guy talking stopped to apparently stare at them. Tony was struggling not to make a quip.

...struggling.

Oh, dammit, too late.

"What, no 'hi' for me?" he said, eyes wide with mock horror. He continued in a louder tone of voice since he has no such thing as a self-preservation instict, "And what does a guy have to do here to get some freaking  _lights?_  It's not the Dark Ages, people." Loki let out a small, frustrated sounding grunt but otherwise it was dead silent. _Nice job, brain._

"And  _you,_ " the voice finally cuts the thick silence, emphasizing 'you' like addressing Tony made the guy feel sick to his stomach, "mortal piece of scum," in fact, seems like it did, "have no right to speak up unless spoken to," he all but hissed, and Tony faintly saw him flick his wrist.

A fist connected with his gut and he knelt to the floor, gasping in pain. Another Chitauri yanked him back up and the same bastard punched him again, now against his ribs. He let out a loud cough and corrected his position so that he wasn't so much dangling in the other Chitauri's grip. It raised its hand so that Tony was forced to stand on his tiptoes when the guy that'd been talking appeared before his face.

"You are here to merely serve, and disobedience shall be punished. Am I understood?" he ( _it,_  his mind corrected furiously)asked, and Tony could see a bit of his ugly face peeking under the big hood covering his head. Tony clenched his jaw and bit out,

"I serve no _fucking_ one _,_ " and another punch landed to his ribs, again by the flick of the guy's hand. His face was grasped between the ugly alien's hand (wait, did he have  _four thumbs?)_ and pulled forward.

"You will learn to or you will _die_ ," he spat at the engineer's face and let go of his chin as soon as he'd said it, wiping his hand on his cape right after.  _Asshole._

"And you, my prince," he said mockingly, walking around him to advance Loki, "know very well why you are here," he continued with a cold tone, full of hatred. Loki was eyeing the guy sharply, brow furrowed and hands fisted in the cuffs. He said nothing. The hooded-ugly-ass-alien huffed a silent laugh.

"And if you're lucky, then we might have some use for you later on. Now, move them to the chambers." Tony saw a glint of teeth in the darkness. _Not to be a party pooper, but this doesn't seem very good._  A sharky smile was able to be seen. "Let us begin the first day."

 

* * *

 

The 'chambers' turned out to be a row of dirty rooms, all equipped with firm locks and heavy doors.

Tony was shoved into one of the rooms and the door was sealed shut, leaving him alone. He heard Loki being pushed into the room next to his own, the door also locking.

"Hey!" he yelled at the door. "I don't see the big picture here!" There was no answer, which didn't actually surprise him. He kicked the door a few times before starting to explore the new cell.

As said, the room truly was dirty, downright _filthy_  or  _shitty_ , and Tony had a sickening guess that the dirt was purely blood and other bodily fluids. The stench of rot and copper also supported his theory. Otherwise the 'chamber' was a bit dimmer than the hallway, and from the ceiling and the walls there were hanging worn-out chains and straps. There was alsoa sturdy cabinet by the wall as well as some oblong tables. On one of the walls there was a shaft that looked a lot like a fireplace, next to a basin.

Tony swallowed, breathing in deeply and trying hard not to think of Afghanistan. _This **indeed** did not seem good._

An agonized scream tore him from his racing thoughts. The genius whipped his head towards the sound. It came from behind the wall to his left.  _Loki's chamber_. Another scream, now slightly muffled as if he seemingly tried to stifle it, ripped through the air and Tony rushed to the wall separating the two prisoners.

 _"HEY!"_ he yelled and banged his foot against the wall. He wasn't even sure  _why_ he was doing it, but _for god's sake_ he just couldn't let someone get fucking  _tortured,_  furthermore so bad that it made them scream like _that_ , let it be a former enemy. And you know, the whole 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' thing. Moreover, torture is not cool. So he banged. _  
_

"Let the guy have some fucking air, you fuckfaces!" he shouted at the wall, hoping that someone would hear him and (even better!) _understand_ him.

His kicking was ceased though, when his cell door opened and two Chitauris barged in. He clenched his hands into tight fists behind his back and turned to face them, backing up. Loki could handle himself for now.

Alien #1 locked the door as alien #2 started nearing him from his right. Alien #1 also begun circling towards him, but from the left right after it'd secured the door. #2 screeched something at him, but since Tony doesn't speak mongrel, he said nothing in return and instead kicked its knee with a curt shout when it came to his range. It tripped and fell with a pained shriek. _Stupid little shit._

#1 had lunged towards him when he'd attacked alien #2, but he just managed to duck it, stumbling farther from the two. Chitauri #1 was getting up and then they started circling him again, the same way they had done not a minute ago. Tony darted forward to evade the invading hands, but #2 got a hold of the collar of his shirt. It raised him, the engineer trashing in its grasp, attempting to get some oxygen into his lungs, as #1 yanked a table forth. They together pressed him against it, opening his handcuffs and then fastened firm straps over his chest, waist, ankles, now released wrists and head. Tony's vision was tunneling when the panic and memories swept over and he struggled in vain against the bonds.

Alien #2 came to hover above him with a glowing, hot metal stick. At its tip there rested a flat, round figure; a palm-sized circle, partly formed by a shape that looked like the letter W, complex and small runes engulfing them.  _A branding mark,_ he realised.

Tony's eyes widened more than a notch and he started struggling more desperately to get free. #1 was unclasping his shirt swiftly and then held him in place by a hand on his abdomen. There was nothing he could do when the searing hot metal was pressed against his right, upper pec. A raw scream tore itself from his throat.

#2 disappeared for a moment (which Tony was grateful for) before returning again. Now it was holding a smaller and more simple copy of the same branding iron, quickly pressing it against the exposed flesh on the inside of his left arm. He bit his lip and gave a sharp muffle, again tugging at the bonds.

The iron was removed and Tony felt sweat dripping down his temple. Somehow, his own cell didn't sound half as bad at the moment. But he knew that the real fun was just about to start. Alien #1 was studying something that looked very much like a cattle prod.

 

* * *

 

Tony lay on the floor of his cell. The Chitauris had just left, depositing him there.

The burns were throbbing, and the bruises and cuts were aching but most of all he felt exhausted. Loki too had been returned to his cell the same time as he, and the god didn't really look any better.

The engineer heard a clacking noise and rolled over to see the door, muscles straining. A small shaft by the base of the door had opened and a plate and a flask were placed to the floor before it. He eyed them with suspicion for a while before grudgingly getting up and crawling over. The "food" on the plate was some white mush which was supposedly meant to be eaten by hand, since no one had had the courtesy to give him a mere spoon. But fortunately, after screwing it open, the liquid in the flask turned out to be water (or very similar to water). He took a small sip and after confirming that it wasn't lethal he took another, a bigger sip this time.

He didn't feel hungry in the least (and it felt unfamiliar since he hadn't eaten a mouthful for about a month) so he just drank the water (all of it because he was freaking thirsty) and got to his bunk. He closed his eyes and hoped he wouldn't wake up tomorrow.

 

* * *

 

_Day 13_

Tony had gathered that they had a destination of some sort. Seemingly to an even bigger boss, since 'the Other' (as Loki had called him one day) turned out to be taking orders from someone. And it seemed that they were now the Big Boss' _property_ , branded and all.

It had also come clear that these things wanted him for the nuke (since the fuckers had seen him fly it to their ship so it instantly made Tony the fucking nuclear physicist, apparently. Though he _did_ know how to build one of those, but still. Alien logic, Christ) and the arc reactor technology (as they'd also, apparently, been impressed how it'd absorbed the magic from Loki's staff. Tony had wondered about it before too, but he'd let it pass as other things had occupied his mind. Read: new projects and building a home for the Avengers). Especially the latter had made Tony's heart leap, but he stood his ground (not helping any shithead, douchey, bag of cats crazy aliens) and endured the days of torture.

Now he was sitting in a corner of his cell, behind what would be the headboard of his bunk if it had one, feet tucked against his chest and hands clasping his soles. They'd burned his feet with presses from a small, hot iron bar, and the _excruciating_  pins and needles just wouldn't cease. It had been a real bitch to walk these past days, but now it was pure agony. He was getting fucking tired of this shit and so was Loki. The guy seemed to be, increasingly so, losing his will to live even.

Tony rubbed his chin, wincing at the stubble sprouting from it. Now that his metabolism had begun to run again, his beard had also started to grow and his always precise, signature goatee was now more or less, outright  _horrible._ (He knew that he rocked literally  _any_ style (even when it was this shaggy prisoner look), but this was getting fucking  _embarrassing._ )

Loki, on the other hand, had a face as smooth as a baby's bottom. In lack of a more compatible person to talk to, he had bitched about it to the god a few days ago, and to Tony's great surprise, Loki had huffed and simply said "I don't find your appearance that awful" and kept walking along the hallway. And if something, then  _that_ had scared Tony shitless.

Loki was clearly losing his edge.

_Yup, definitely getting out of this shithole._

He hunched in tighter when a particularly intense throb felt in his sole, reminding him of the scarcity of his options when it came to escaping.  _Their options,_ he reminded himself. Not only did he take  _just a bit_ of pity on the guy spending time with him here, but he was sure that Loki'd come handy and perhaps even vital to his plan. Also, he wasn't  _that_ much of an ass that he'd leave someone here to suffer voluntarily. Plus, they were still wearing the damn collar tag things.

But yeah, Tony did have a plan brewing in there. He just needed to have a little alone time with Loki, to get the final problems sorted. Mostly about the alien stuff and in general tell him about his thoughts. But the question remains,  _how?_

Even when the Chitauris couldn't understand a flying shit of the stuff Tony spouted from time to time, he bet that they'd still find it fishy or at least unnerving if two prisoners were to yell at each other from cell to cell.

Tony felt a feeble tug at his neck. Right, since he was sitting by the farthest wall of the cell, then Loki must have just passed the same spot in his own, making the leash tighten between them.

 _Wait._ Tony smiled a faint and playful smirk when an idea occurred to him.

He tugged at the invisible bond between them, attempting to telegraph to Loki. He just hoped that the guy would understand. Like, _really_ hoped.

M - O - R - S - E - C - O - D - E - ? he tugged.

He waited in desperate excitement, hoping that this would work. Then he felt pressure on his throat.

A - L - L - S - P - E - A - K, came the curt reply.

Tony had to stifle a relieved and surprised laugh. Thank God (or rather Odin?) for Allspeak, whatever it actually may be or how the hell did it work.

W - E - R - G - O - N - N - A - E - S - C - A - P - E - I - G - O - T - A - P - L - A - N, Tony sent to Loki, simplifying his sentence in order to get it through quickly.

Loki didn't send anything in awhile, probably thinking.

T - E - L - L.

Tony begun tugging furiously again. It was hard to get his thoughts through, since he had to use small words for the sake of getting the message understandable. Still, Loki listened him silently, not once interrupting. Only in the end he begun to make suggestions to Tony's plan, and it begun to sound that their plan could actually work. But not alone.

After they had finished their conversation, Tony crawled to his bunk to get some sleep. The following night was either the most stressful night or the most peaceful one of all the nights spent after 'The Abduction', as he'd dubbed it.

It was because Tony knew that the next day, they'd escape. And for good.

 

* * *

 

When a Chitauri came to get him, Tony was already awake. He'd forced himself to get some sleep in order to be in tip top condition, but the night had still passed in lieu of thinking and rethinking their already refined plan through.

He got up inconspicuously, perfectly miming the way he always moved despite his inner total turmoil. As the days had passed, the number of Chitauris had reduced to three when it came to the routine of picking the prisoners up. One stayed standing in guard in the hallway as the other two fetched Tony and Loki at the same time.

What a bunch of lazy idiots.

As according to their plan, Tony moved so that he was standing flank to the open doorway and could be seen from Loki's cell and he himself could see Loki standing in the complementary spot to his own. As they always did, the Chitauri walked in front of Tony where the genius had stretched his hands to shackle him up. It huffed in apparent annoyance when it had to round a bit, but didn't find it suspicious that the third Chitauri in the hallway couldn't see them because of the angle, nor the Chitauri in Loki's cell because of the same reasons. Perfect.

He turned his head so that he could glance at Loki. Their eyes met and they nodded in agreement.

Before the alien had time to secure the handcuffs around his wrists, Tony thrust his palm up and under the helmet and over the Chitauri's mouth and nose, so quickly that his hand twinged sharply. At the same, his right hand punched hard at the weak spot in the armor around the alien's abdomen (which Loki had told him existed there). The Chitauri bent slightly with a muffled grunt and Tony instantly brought his knee up to knock the bastard out. It fell to the floor with a thump, fortunately to Tony, unconscious.

He turned on his heel and surged out of the cell in tandem with Loki and they together jumped the baffled third piece of Chitauri shit. Loki quickly twisted its neck backwards, making Tony grimace inwardly.

"We do not have much time," the trickster said, crouching to pry the scepter from the Chitauri's slack hand. Tony would have protested against the fact that only Loki of them had a weapon now, but he had no fucking idea how the scepter worked, so he let it slide for now. Loki got up and they turned a total 180 degrees around, pacing fast along the hallway. "They will soon learn of our break."

"Well, that was to be expected and also kinda inevitable," Tony answered, taking quick steps to keep up with Loki's long and brisk strides. Loki hummed in agreement, eyes scanning the front in case of another enemy. His brow furrowed when they started nearing a cross in the hallway.

"Someone's coming," he hissed, shooting a hand to stop Tony and usher him against the wall by his side (which he would've been completely capable of doing himself, thank you very much) and seemingly listening. Tony couldn't hear a thing, but maybe this was a god thing.

The sounds seemed to be nearing, and now Tony too could hear faint footsteps. Loki tensed, readying himself for an attack.

When the one taking the steps was just behind the corner they were lurking next to, Loki lunged and shoved the head of the scepter before him, piercing it through the side of the Chitauri's throat. Well, someone had a tad of bottled anger stashed somewhere in there. But on the other hand, he was rather energetic at the moment and not looking half as depressed as he'd not a day earlier.

He picked up another scepter from its hand and threw it to Tony, which he caught with ease. He still wasn't sure how to use it, but it felt better to have a weapon of some sort.

They continued, walking along the hallways and occasionally turning. Loki had told him that he knew his way around the ship, and that he could get them into one of the smaller crafts. At first Tony'd been a bit spooked that Loki'd just ditch him when he didn't have any use for him anymore (simply said, right after knocking out that one Chitauri), but Loki had told him that he needed someone to pilot the ship. And that person seemed to be Tony, since he had a vast knowledge when it came to technology and different machines.

Tony's thinking and their not so long lasted running was interrupted when a siren started to blare with a deafening volume. Apparently their disappearance had been noticed.

"Shit!" Tony cursed and they sped up their already quick pace.

"Not a long way from here!" Loki said firmly, face scrunched up in concentration. But of course, it was never that easy.

A group of Chitauris stepped before them, effectively blocking their way. Tony eyed them with calculating eyes, readying for a combat. It was five versus two. Loki took a step back and raised the tip of his scepter.

"You do this," he yanked it backwards and it shoot out blue energy with a loud zap, hitting one of the Chitauris, "and it fires."

"Ok," Tony replied as one the Chitauris screeched and the others started shooting at them with biggish, gun-like weapons. They both ducked, taking cover behind the next corner. "Fucking hell," Tony spat, pressing his back against the wall. Loki decided to peek over Tony and the corner, and a beam of energy is aimed towards his head, burning a tuft of hair in place of it. If the situation was another, Tony would've laughed at the look on the god's face. Instead, he himself takes a quick look and shoots with his scepter a lousy and poorly aimed beam. But nevertheless, it hits one of them, crippling it by charring its other leg. Whoo, for the small victories!

"When I say so," Loki states in the middle of Tony's inner celebration, taking a place by the opposite wall to him. Tony wants to roll his eyes at the commanding tone, but simply nods with a raised eyebrow. They stand there for a small while before Loki barks,

"Now!"

They both jump to face the shared enemy, Tony staying low so that Loki can have clear aim over his head and to avoid getting hit himself. He runs against a Chitauri and it staggers, not quite falling, until Loki brings the end of his scepter against its face. Team Loki and Tony: 1 - Chitauri: 0.

He fires again, this time hitting his target perfectly (he  _is_ a former weapon manufacturer, so it is without saying easy for him to learn how to use new weaponry, let it be alien or whatever) and then kicking another alien as he passes it. Unfortunately, it's still fast enough to get a hold of his arm and manages to throw Tony, sprawled on his back, to the floor before it.

Though it hurt a bit, otherwise this only gives Tony the perfect angle to shoot the little shit's brain to the walls, which he does before it can react in any way. But right after he's kicked to his ribs, and he quickly scrambles up after rolling a few feet because of the force of the impact. When he snaps his head up to see the attacker, he only has time to register a shot being aimed at his face. If not for his reflexes, it would have hit its target, but now it only succeeds in almost ripping his freaking shoulder off.

He shouts curtly in agony and grasps his shoulder, refusing to let go of the scepter despite the pain. Thank God though, he sees Loki's foot connecting with the Chitauri's knee and then his scepter bashing its skull into a bloody mess on the floor. Then Loki's hands are grabbing him and pulling him up to his feet.

"Come on, we need to keep going," he says and Tony is tucked against his side when they make it towards the next turn. There they find a large door.

"This is it," Loki says and presses the scepter against the runes, just like the Chitauris always do when they arrive at a door like this. It slides open and they stumble inside.

The room is filled with small aircrafts, and Loki presses a heavy-looking lever down, causing the wall before them to open and form a platform for them to use to take off. Then he pushes Tony inside the nearest of the shuttles, climbing in right after. It's very cramped and Loki has to bend his back in order to fully fit in. Tony heavily takes his seat on the apparent pilot's seat, but Loki shoos him away from it.

"Move, you are too likely to loose consciousness with that wound. I'll fly," he says and unceremoniously pushes Tony to the seat next to the pilot's, sitting himself in it. Loki's bleeding heavily from his side but it doesn't look to Tony like it very much bothers him. He looks down at his own appearance, taking in the blood-gushing shoulder and the teared knuckles.

"I thought you needed me to pilot?" he says and fastens the tack to keep himself steady when they take off. Loki is pushing and swirling holograms, and merely hums at Tony's comment. He grabs a handle and slides his hands against its surface and Tony feels the engine purring to life. The shaft before them has opened completely and Loki begins to move towards it.

Tony sees movement in the farthest left in the "windshield", and sees a Chitauri pushing the lever back up in order to stop their escape. Loki growls and pushes his hands forward with more vigor, causing the ship to jerk into a more quick velocity. They speed up as the shaft closes even more, and just,  _just,_ make it out of the ship, injuring the smaller craft's rudder as they go. Their ship jolts alarmingly but continues to speed up. They keep going and going until the enormous ship is no longer visible and no shots are being fired their way anymore. Only then the tension seems to start fading and Tony sags against his seat and lets his eyes slide closed as he sighs.

_We fucking made it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Please, leave kudos or a comment, and **tell me if you want me to answer to your thoughts.** :)


	5. Helper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Loki continue on their escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! :)
> 
> I hope you had nice and relaxing holidays, here's a new chapter before all the work starts if it hasn't already!
> 
> The planet that is introduced in this ch is completely made up, but the alien race _Aakon_ is a canon Marvel alien race. I also altered the canon Aakon name "Ooru" to "Oora" since I wanted to be original but somewhat canon still. XD
> 
> More about Marvel's Aakons ↓
> 
> http://marvel.wikia.com/Aakons
> 
> Enjoy! ♥

Tony wakes up to a series of not friendly-sounding beeping noises, his head fuzzy from blood loss and pain. He glances to his left, taking in the sight of Loki furiously pressing buttons with his other hand while the other hovers on the metallic steering column.

"You awake, Stark?" he asks sternly without looking away from the swirling holograms.

"Yeah," Tony answers, voice gruff from unconsciousness. "Where are we headed?" Loki tsks and slides some switch from right to left.

"Not far enough," he replies, "but the ship won't last much longer, it took too much damage on our way out. We must land soon." He nods towards the windshield and Tony sees a planet very close and nearing. "That's our destination. It's called _Taeer_ and it's well-known for its reputation as the home of criminals, refugees, drifters and other unfortunate creatures." Loki turns his face to look at Tony, wearing a crooked smile. "Thus, a perfect place to blend in and a good-enough place for a temporary hideaway." Tony huffs in amusement.

"Marvelous," he says colorlessly and stares at the view before him.

As they keep descending towards the planet's surface, they hear a semi-loud crackle and a buzz when the ship's comm turns online and someone starts speaking in what sounds like just another jibber language to Tony. Loki seems to be ignoring it, though he does look a bit more drained now that the voice keeps repeating the same vocables in a sharp tone.

"What are they saying? Is it some sort of an air-traffic control?" Tony asks, glancing over at Loki. His brow is furrowed and turning sweaty as he seems to concentrate on the landing and not minding the now more demanding tone of voice booming in the comm. They are already very near the planet's ground surface.

"Yes," he says tautly and jerks his head in the general direction of Tony. "Press that stabilization button before you." Tony looks at the flickering hologram buttons before him.

"Which one?" he asks and Loki sighs impatiently, leaning into Tony's space to press it himself. "Hey! Not my fault! I don't have that gibberish translation thingy you do, and I can't operate an alien spaceship without exploring a bit first! How did you even expect me to fly this thing?" Loki just rolls his eyes and wipes at his brow, grunting as he does. Tony squints his eyes.

"Seriously," he presses. "And why would you need me to pilot a ship when you're completely capable of doing it yourself? Is there something else you need me for?" Loki purses his lips, scrunching up his nose. "Something you didn't wanna share, perhaps, hm? Well, I'm not going to be used as a piece to your schemes _,_ Loki!" he rambles on and tightens his hold on the seat's armrests. Loki bares his teeth and suddenly bangs his fist against the control panel, shattering the transparent material. Tony's eyes widen as he flinches away from the outburst.

 _"SHUT IT, WILL YOU?!"_ Loki yells, knocking down switches and pressing buttons, finally silencing the damn comm. Then he slides his hand quickly on the steering handle, making the shuttle dive fast towards the ground and then slamming his palm on the broken panel, abruptly shutting the ship down.

"WHAT THE _FUCK_ , LOKI?!" Tony screams as they begin losing altitude fast and stares out of the windshield with a horrified expression. Their ship falls down the relatively small distance, crashes and rolls over some time, and Tony catches a glimpse two aircrafts flying high above, descending down after them.  _Oh._ _  
_

Their wreck of a ship stops so that they're hanging face towards the ground. Loki unbuckles himself, falling on the shattered windshield not as gracefully as he usually would and then hurrying to unbuckle Tony. Together they get their fumbling hands to open the tack and Loki catches Tony as he falls down. Even though he feels like he should be embarrassed over being carried, right now Tony feels more thankful for the fact, since he wasn't sure if he'd make it out of the ruins on his own.

With the hand that is not holding Tony upright, Loki rips off a part of the paneling on the ruined floor, twists a lever under it and starts kicking at the hatch on the ship's belly. Tony supposes it's an emergency exit, so he, too, joins the kicking. Soon, the hatch flies away and Loki lifts Tony so that he can slide out from it. Next he pushes the scepters out of the hole to him and lastly climbing out himself.

"Hurry, they're just above us," Tony hisses, talking about the aircrafts that were evidently chasing after them. He leans against the wreck and extends a hand for Loki to take support from. Loki takes it and they make their way towards the surrounding woods, supporting each other by their flanks. Tony fires three shots at the nearest aircraft, unfortunately only making small damage on the surface, while Loki manages one shot, which hits the pilot ( _that's one crappy windshield)_ , causing the whole craft to fall.

"Showoff," Tony mutters as they quickly limp into the cover of the trees and he can basically feel Loki smirking next to him. They crouch when they reach the tree line, both taking aim carefully on the other aircraft. It's arched in such a way that hitting the pilot would be impossible, so they target the engines instead. They both hit and the ship crashes down. Tony fist pumps the air (for which he gets a weirded out look from Loki) and they turn on their heel to get away from the scene.

They keep moving and moving until the forest ends, and find a shitty, rugged city not faraway from the woods. Tony thinks that they were about two hours on the move, so he supposes that their journey was about 6 miles long. It's already dark and Tony watches absently as unfamiliar stars litter the sky. His legs are shaking and he feels dehydrated and wonders how he managed to make it even this far.

They find a ratty, empty, small house by the outskirts of the city and get into it, collapsing on to the dirty, earthen floor. The house seems to be more like an abandoned storage, which it might as well be.

Tony's head is spinning as the blood loss keeps getting impossibly even worse and he feels like dying now that he got to lie down. But getting up proves itself impossible, so he keeps still, compressing the wound on his shoulder. Then he feels someone rolling him over and forcing his shirt open (but the collar of the shirt still stays locked in place, the gem glistening with dim blue light at the center of it). He faintly registers Loki pressing a cloth against his injured shoulder and lets out a breathy grunt. The trickster hushes him and wipes the excess blood around the wound away and then presses the rag back against it.

"We need water," he says hoarsely, out of breath from exhaustion. Tony cracks his eyes open.

"Where're we supposed to get that?" he slurs back up at the god. Loki meets his gaze but says nothing. They sit in silence for a while.

_Swish._

Both snapping their heads up as they hear a sound coming from the doorway, Loki grabs a scepter an trains it towards the source. There stands a little alien, supposedly a young girl, with yellow skin and dark hair, holding a clay vase, stripes of cloth and a small jar in her arms. She springs up to her toes, taking a small step back as she's noticed. The alien kid begins talking with yet another language Tony doesn't get, sounding scared.

Loki stares at her and once she finishes he gives a curt nod, lowering the spear in his hand a tad.

"She said that she saw us coming here, injured, so she came for our aid," he says, eyeing the girl though his face is turned to Tony. "Do you have any idea who we are, little _Aakon_  girl?" he asks cautiously. The girl twitches, probably alarmed and shakes her head. Loki lets out a sigh.

"Come, give me the water," he then said, motioning for the girl to come. She did as she was told, handing Loki the vase and kneeling beside Tony.

"Are your parents drifters?" Loki asked the girl, drinking a mouthful of water before pouring a decent amount of it down Tony's throat, supporting his head on his thighs. Tony is rather positive that the girl isn't there to poison them, and Loki did already drink the liquid, so he swallows. Also he's fucking thirsty. The girl answers in what seems to be her native language and Loki hums at her answer. "I thought so."

Loki removed the cloth from the wound on Tony's shoulder and splashes water on it. Tony bites his lip to not hiss at the cold water hurting the sensitive skin of the wound. Loki dries the area carelessly before reaching out and taking the small jar from the alien girl. He inspects it contents briefly yet thoroughly before dipping his finger in and moving it towards Tony's shoulder.

"Whoa," Tony halts him with a partially raised hand. "What's that?" he asks, eyeing the greenish cream. Loki's mouth tightens as he looks at the ceiling like he was praying for patience.

"It is merely balm for the wound, Stark. It'll accelerate the healing," he tells Tony, shoving the finger covered with the substance back towards the wound. Tony blocks its way with a hand and sends a suspicious look to Loki. He knows that Loki is more than capable of forcing that cream to his shoulder if he is so inclined, but Tony hopes that he'll be able to appeal to Loki's humane side, if it  _really_ existed. So he keeps staring.

Loki huffs in irritation and abruptly pushes up the tight shirt, revealing a painful-looking, deep cut on his left side. Though it seems to be already healing, he unceremoniously spreads the ointment over it and pulls the leather shirt back down.

"Satisfied?" he asks, grabbing the jar to get another portion for Tony. Tony rolls his eyes and jerks his head to tell Loki he can proceed. The moment the god touches the wound with his balm covered finger, Tony feels a soothing coolness spreading over the area. The pain is reduced (though not by much, but it's still something) and he could swear he was almost able feel the torn tissue and veins beginning to fold themselves back together with more vigor. He lets loose an involuntary sigh and Loki huffs.

"I told you it would help, you foolish mortal," he says, adding more of the substance to the wound.

"Shut up," Tony quips as he lets his tense muscles relax a bit. The wound is located on his right shoulder, above the ugly brand as it had unluckily just missed it.  _Yay, more scars to add up to the collection._

Then it hits him, that the arc reactor is exposed to two pairs of curious eyes. He looks over at the girl who doesn't seem too interested, instead handing stripes of cloth to Loki, who's currently tying them over Tony's shoulder. His eyes don't leave her right away and he wonders why the kid would help two shaggy men she's never met in her life. He lets it pass as the pure kindness of a child, though he still wants to know more. Loki though, he just glares at before averting his eyes.

Then, he lets his guard back down, exhaustion taking place instead. His peaceful slumber was interrupted though when someone slapped his cheek hard.

"Hey!" he exclaims, now completely awake, rubbing his face and again glaring up at Loki. The guy just smirks down at him.

"It was for your own good, Stark," he says, sounding like he totally didn't mean what he just said. _Sadist._ "Drink," he then orders, bringing the vase close to Tony's lips. Tony does, glowering at Loki the whole time.

"Good lad," he praises after Tony's done, mockingly patting his cheek. Tony squints his eyes at him. "Now, feel free to sleep." Loki moves away from Tony, to apparently speak with the girl, and Tony hopes he'll show their gratitude to her. But before he can make sure of that, he's already drifting away to sleep.

 

* * *

 

Tony wakes up with his usual start to awareness, lying on his side on a very uncomfortable surface. Sunlight is streaming through the tattered drape hanging over the doorway as well as from the small slot up in the wall. He grunts and tries to roll onto his other shoulder, only to remember it's still injured. He gasps in pain and surges up to sit.

"Motherfucker!" he curses, rubbing and studying his shoulder. No blood has seeped through the patching, so Tony supposes the balm worked its magic overnight.

"Always so tactful with your speech, aren't you, Stark?" he hears a silky voice taunting by his side. He looks over at Loki who's currently heaving himself up to sit, combing his fingers through the black, wavy hair. Tony sees the burnt tussle of hair and stifles a snort. Instead, he hums sharply.

"Not all of us were raised in fancy castles," he retorts, pulling at the stripes cloth to see the wound. Loki huffs and creeps closer to Tony.

"That's not what I heard from your archer friend," he says smugly, fingers probing at the bandaging to help Tony remove it. The engineer slaps the pale hands away and looks Loki in the eye.

"What do you mean?" he asks, frowning at him. Loki twitches the left corner of his mouth slightly upwards.

"He told me things," he begins. "Including you living your childhood in conditions equaling with living in a castle." Tony purses his lips.

"Well, it certainly didn't feel that way," he says stiffly, remembering his alcoholic, ignorant father and the years spent in boarding schools. Loki's eyebrows shot up a tad as if surprised, but he said nothing. Tony kept fumbling with the cloth, since it _fucking wouldn't open._ He threw his hand towards the floor angrily, groaning in defeat.

"I can't get it open," he mumbled irritably, not even needing to spare Loki a glance to know that the bastard was smirking. Loki cleared his throat, waiting. Tony turned to look at him, aghast, and huffed.

 _"Please,_ Prince Loki, would you aid this pitiful mortal in his distress?" he asked mockingly, even offering Loki a small bow. Even though he knew Loki was  _(most likely)_ mostly just playing, Tony still felt piqued over the fact that he had to –  _repetitively_  – accept Loki's help. It was freaking eating him.

Loki flashed Tony a sharky smile.

"Sure," he said, reached with his hands and swiftly removed the cloth, exposing the wound on Tony's shoulder. It was still healing, but it resembled more like a two-week-old wound rather than a day ago acquired.

"Huh. So, I guess your magical cream of healing worked after all." Loki rolled his eyes, tugging the cloth back on. "Speaking of which, where's the little yellow kid? You scare her away?" Even though Tony had previously referred to about 98% of the aliens he had encountered as _"it"_ s, he'd made the same exception on the girl as he had done with Loki and the Other. His train of thought might have seemed irrational, but he just couldn't bring himself to call those  _animals_ with personal pronouns.

"I sent her back to her family," Loki answered, busying himself by tidying his cuticles. "Though I did ask for another favor before she left. I bet she shall and come to us soon enough."

"Hm," Tony replied, moving onto next subject. "How long do you think it'll take for the guys who attacked us to figure out our location? I mean, they most likely already know that we're somewhere around here, given that this is the nearest place with population." Loki glanced up from his nails at Tony as he spoke.

"Not long, I assume. The Other most likely described our craft to the space surveillance crew and then bribed them into capturing us. That'd explain the reason for their hostile behavior," Loki concluded, eyes distant. Tony stays quiet for a small while.

"Nice, officially outlaws now!" he says, a grin of self-irony in place. "Though I reckon it isn't new to you?" he jabs, eyeing Loki mischievously. Loki looks fed up as he glares back at Tony. When he doesn't say anything, Tony continues,

"So, what was the thing you needed me for? Not gonna sell me for some goods, are you? Not really your style, though, I bet you'd be more creative with that. More of a perfectionist creating an evil master plan -type, right?" Loki huffs.

"I shall tell you when the time comes," he says prudently. "But rest assured, it's no evil master plan." Tony cracks a smile at that.

"Yeah. I wish I could believe that."

The curtain to their temporary hiding spot flaps and the alien kid steps in. Her arms are full with drags.

"There you are!" Loki says gruffly, rising up and walking to the girl, taking the stuff from her. "Thank you, Oora." Tony is surprised to say at least to hear Loki say that. (First of all thanking someone, and secondly calling them politely and kindly by their name.) Oora nods at them both and heads quickly away.

"Should we pay her back someway?" Tony suggests, inching closer to Loki to have a look at the things Oora brought. Loki settles them to the ground as they sit back down.

"She is of a race consisting of idiotic and hotheaded warriors, which of whom also aren't exactly fond of you Midgardians," he says evenly and Tony gapes at him. "Let they be drifters or not, if we were to accidentally reveal ourselves, her family would most likely sell us out to our chasers or just smash our skulls out of a whim. And we have no way of paying our debt to her, since we have nothing we could give. Thus, cease your sentimental jammering and forget about the girl." Tony glowers at the god.

"Well, she seemed different, maybe her family's too," he still argues. Loki has opened the bundle Oora gave them, revealing that what Tony'd called drags were in fact clothes. _Ugh, awesome._

"Or maybe not. Just let it go, Stark," Loki says calmly, like handling a retarded child. The thought makes Tony's brow knit in irritation.

Loki pulls out a small and dull knife from the package that had been wrapped inside the clothes.

"Come here," he suddenly beckons, holding out the knife and reaching with his other hand.

"I'd really rather not," Tony reverts, eyeing the knife suspiciously. Loki rolls his eyes and beckons with his hands again. Tony sighs and just goes this time.

"Since we seemingly cannot open these collars," he begins, grasping Tony's shirt, "I presume we need to remove them." He sinks the knife into the leather of the collar, but it jams after he's cut through half an inch.

"Interesting," Loki says, squinting his eyes as he inspects the part. "There probably is another strap inside the tunic's collar holding the stone in place. One that cannot be cut." Tony glares at the gem angrily. "Well," Loki suddenly utters and slashes a clean cut down Tony's side, shredding the leather shirt and doing the same to the pants.

"Hey!" Tony exclaims as Loki moves to cut the leather collar away from the uncuttable collar inside it. "A little warning next time, Edward Scissorhands?" Loki frowns at the nickname but instead of commenting on Tony's statement, he hands him the knife.

"My turn," he says curtly and, conceding, Tony shreds away Loki's clothes too. Then the trickster throws a too big long-sleeved shirt, an even bigger overcoat-thing with a hood and a pair of loose pants before Tony. He himself gets about the same stuff, though his coat looks more of a robe. There are also two pairs of sandshoes which Tony ties tightly on with the leather cords. Everything is colored with brown, navy green and grey shades, and everything smells and looks musty, dirty and worn. When Tony complains about it, Loki tells him that the clothes are from another abandoned house, so the quality was to be expected. Tony feels dirty already.

They pull their hoods on and tug their shirt collars high to hide the collars with the gems (or stones as Loki seems to call them) and use all the cloth they can find to make belts where they can attach the scepters and hide them under their big coats. Loki keeps the knife tucked safely somewhere in his person and Tony lets him, since he's anyway more of a hand-to-hand combat kind of guy than a knife thrower that Loki claims to be. Though he seems to prefer the word 'dagger'.

The package also contains a piece of bread and two fruits that Tony has never seen in his life as well as a ratty water flask. They eat quickly and agree that since Loki has the knife then Tony can have the flask.

With that, they leave the outskirts and make their way towards the bustle of thieves and criminals in the heart of the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! ♥
> 
> Please comment or leave kudos! :)


	6. Celestial bodies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii! ♥
> 
> I'm going to be really busy for a while now, and I also want to update my other WIP, so it might take a little longer for me to post again. (Of course as irregular as my updates already are, I don't think it'll make that big of a difference.) Please be patient with me, I'll do my best to arrange time to write. And thanks again for all the support!
> 
> And btw, if you've got no idea what Tony's referring to in this chapter, then rest assured, I'll put a few links in the notes below :)

The city is vivid; people bustling on the streets, buying stuff from the street market, trading goods and mingling. The continuous stream of people brushing against him makes Tony tighten his hold on the coat around him. The two get suspicious looks as they pass, but it seems that suspicious looks are no rarity in here.

Tony sees people getting harassed and violated by the ones stronger than them, all of it going ignored by the masses. He wants to help but remembers his place. There isn't anything he could do, plus they can't afford getting into trouble right now. So, he lets his eyes slide past when he sees abuse, despite the pang of irrational guilt he feels.

_Granted, a planet of criminals._

All of the buildings are made of white-ish stone, the ground dry and dusty as the foreign sun scorches it. Tony feels hot like hell, but stubbornly won't remove his coat. Loki, also, looks like he's on the verge of a heatstroke, but he too refuses to strip off any clothing. They're about the only shield they have (and crappy ones at that, if one may say) and the Chitauri scepters if something will surely rouse unwanted attention.

Tony brushes a few sweaty strands of hair from his face, keeping his eyes trained before him. Right now, their main purpose is to get food supplies and figure a way out of the city. They need a place that's further away from the spot they landed to, away from searching authorities, to regroup and take a breather.

 _"I think we have to visit a street market,"_ Loki had said before they'd reached the noisy and cramped main streets. Tony had offered him a docile quirk of his lips and a grunt, approving the plan easily. He was still healing and felt ill as they kept walking thus he just wanted to find a comfy bed quickly, and what would it hurt if he let Loki decide where they were firstly headed? Since he anyway knew more about the whole alien thing than Tony, it was only logical. Plus, he was already feeling like a worthless little shit for being so dependent on someone else, so who the fuck cares anymore?

They halted before a shabby table, various stuff lying on top of it, half of it which Tony couldn't name.

"Good day, valued customer! May I be of assistance?" Tony snaps his eyes up from the table.  _Finally, some fucking ENGLISH! (Or all-speak-whatever, more likely.)_ he thought gleefully. He eyed the blue-skinned, chubby and bearded alien on the other side of the table and the scrawny assistant-one hunched over next to him.

"Yes!" Tony exclaimed before Loki could take the lead. He huffed mentally. If he spotted someone he could actually _talk_ to (other than Loki), he was going to take that chance, no buts. "Do you, good man, know where we could find a trustworthy place to trade goods?" He already knew that the guy was going to nominate himself, but buttering up works. Or, in this case letting the alien guy butter himself up. Tony was,  _is,_ a very successful businessman, there's no denying in that, and he knew that between the two, he'd be the one to bargain better deals, if it came down to it. Also, it helped to soothe the sickly feeling of uselessness swirling in his stomach, so a win-win, right?

The alien guy barked out a laugh.

"You're staring right at him, my fellows! What do you require?" Tony let a small smirk slip loose. This was what he'd been doing all his life and he was the expert in this game. He shifted his body language to relaxed and open as he leaned against the table.

"Well, first off, we need a vehicle. Think you can help with that?" The shopkeeper nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes! We in fact do have a vast collection of various conveyances. If you'd be so kind as to follow me," he conformed, bowing slightly and waving the way toward an ally where they seemingly kept the bigger commodity. Tony locked eyes with Loki, who after a flashing brief studying, turned and walked over to the merchant.

"Show the way, thank you," he said curtly, smiling, and following after the man. Tony shifted his eyes quickly to the assistant. By human standards, he looked twenty-ish, all long limbs and adolescent features. His skin was the same blue as the shopkeeper's, so Tony figured they were same species. Perhaps even related, if that crooked nose was anything to go by.

He felt a tug on his neck (as he'd slowed his pace to examine the alien boy) and quickly hurried his walking, not wanting to look out of place. He trailed after Loki and the trader, until they came to a stop before what looks a fairly tidy scrapyard. The vehicles indeed were various, some even vaguely resembling human cars and motorbikes as the others reminded Tony more of war tanks or even TIE fighters and X-wings. Though it shouldn't given the situation, the yard seemed to be awakening Tony's inner geek.

"If I may ask, what type of a vehicle are you looking for?" the alien asks and Loki tells him something about endurance when it comes moving long distances and speed. The man nods and shows them a jeep-looking vehicle with big, not-rubber tires, sleek yet sturdy frame and a big windshield.

"Will this suffice?" he asks, again bowing his back slightly. Loki eyes the car-thing with careful diligence as Tony rounds it a bit.

"Yes, I believe it shall," the god answers and the merchant smiles a wide grin.

"Marvelous! How would you prefer the paym-" The salesman's sentence is cut short abruptly as Loki twists his neck around. Tony jumps as the now dead man crumbles to the desert ground in a heap of slack limbs.

"You," he stutters, then recovers a tad.  _"You fucking asshole!"_ he hisses at Loki, a mix of venom and hysteria. "You-you  _fucker!_ What are you even _doing,_ you crazy son of a _bitch!"_ Loki frowns at his choice of words, but Tony's too wound up to care.

"I do not see the issue here," the god states calmly. He steps over the body and pulls up the vehicle's door. It circles smoothly up so that the base of it now faces the sky.

"That kid might have as well been his  _fucking family!_ You just cold-bloodedly  _murdered_ an innocent man, and you  _don't see the issue?"_ Tony feels chills go down his spine as he thinks what Loki is capable of and how he had depended  _his fucking life_ on him. He feels sick.

Loki glowers back at Tony coldly.

"It is not that I merely enjoy killing-"

"Oh," Tony interrupts, "'cause it fucking seems like it." Loki's eyes flash and he stalks with predatory strides to Tony (who doesn't back off because he's a self-destructive moron). He grabs the shorter man by the front of his coat.

"A friendly reminder, Stark. _We_ have absolutely _no_ currency nor anything else to use as payment!" he almost yells at Tony's face. "We, also, do not have  _the fucking time_  to get any, so cease your _sanctimonious_ rambling already, by the _Norns!"_ He shakes Tony to mesmerize his words, but to Tony it's all the same. Loki seems to gather that much from the look Tony's sending him. _  
_

"This planet is not the same as your precious _Earth_ , get that through your thick skull! Here only the strongest survive, the ones that make use of what they've got even if it's not that _honorable._ " Tony can hear the quotes in Loki's voice at 'honorable'. "I suggest you begin acting like that if you wish to remain alive." Loki gives him a shove as he lets go and walks back over to the vehicle.

"Killing innocent is not strength," Tony says and sees Loki sigh tiredly. He slides to the driver's seat and presses some buttons. Tony breathes out heavily and walks closer. He sees Loki press his hand at a panel and hears the engine powering up, before a sharp and unfriendly-sounding noise sounds from under what Tony supposes is the hood of the engine. It would be comical when Loki just stares into distance with a plank look, if it weren't for the situation. Then he gets up and pushes the hood up and eyes the motor. He slams it back down and turns around to rub his brow.

 _Karma,_ Tony thinks as he walks to where Loki is leaning against the vehicle and pushes the hood back up. It doesn't look like a car engine by much, but after eyeing it for a good twenty seconds, he already has a few pretty good ideas of what the parts are comparable to in one.

All fluids look good, what is most likely the vacuum hose is intact and everything seems to be in order otherwise. Until he sees a spark plug wire looking thing hanging a bit out. He pulls it fully out, checks the spark plug lookalike (all good) and pushes the wire back. He takes in the sight for a brief moment, before changing the place of one wire with another. He wipes off some oil with his already filthy sleeve and snaps the hood back down. He finds Loki looking at him with an unreadable expression.

"Try it again," Tony tells him curtly, patting the dirt from his hands to his ragged pants. Loki's mouth tightens as if he's irritated (which he probably is) but he complies. Tony watches him slide to the seat again.

The vehicle goes online with a soft roar.

Tony smirks smugly at Loki who just rolls his eyes and beckons Tony to get in. He feels bad to just leave the shopkeeper's body lying on the ground, but he ignores the rush of guilt and the flash of the scrawny assistant's face in his mind's eye. He gets in and pulls the door down and closed after him. Loki turns the vehicle and drives out of the scrapyard from the wide gates on the other side of the fenced area, splintering the wood of them.

 

* * *

 

The city stretches wide and they keep driving along the roads meant for bigger transports. They take one break, steal some food and water from the market and some other stuff. Obviously, Tony's no new to small talk (even when the other counterpart doesn't understand _any_ of his ramblings) and Loki has dexterous fingers, so they make a pretty good team when stealing other people's purses and valuables. Loki manages to collect various different currencies and none of the ones they pickpocket realize before they're long gone. (They don't worry about drawing attention too much, since it's seemingly more uncommon  _not_ to steal than actually steal. Though Tony does throw a piece of fruit to a hungry-looking kid hanging by one alleyway. Just to appease his mother of a guilt trip, slightly.) Also, they get some maps.

"If we wanna get an outer space proof ship a guess we need to head to the capital?" Tony asks as he studies the map of the surrounding area along with the whole planet's map. The things are actually quite easy to read, once you get the hang of it. He glances towards the other man. Tony's still mad at Loki, but decided that moping about it won't improve their situation, so he's just going to suck it up. But trusting the guy (if it even ever was an option) is out of the question.

Loki leans into Tony's space (which makes him inwardly bristle), away from his own star maps. "Yes," he says, eyes on the piece of paper in Tony's hands.

"Then we take the next one right," Tony supplies and leans back in his seat. Loki says nothing, moves back and keeps driving. Tony rubs absently at his shoulder. Outside, it's beginning to dusk, the sun setting and two oddly large moons appearing as they ascend to the sky. The wound is still healing, but it's made a huge improvement within that one day. (And Tony's  _totally not_ going to admit that, maybe, magic may sometimes be helpful.)

They're driving on a desolated and unattended road, surrounded by nothing but desert land and the few shaggy buildings. Tony keeps his eyes ahead, watching the scene darken until it's night. He thinks longingly about his spacious bed back at Stark Tower, as he suppresses a yawn. Spending a night on the road leading to the capital seems too obvious thus too risky, so he figures they'll just drive until dawn. Well, might as well make use of the time.

"So," he begins and Loki groans. His jaded expression  _almost_ makes Tony laugh, since it's become _almost_ that familiar by now. "Aw, come on, don't give me that!" he says instead. "I was just wondering-"

 _"Please,_ do not wonder, mortal."

 _"-wondering,_ why you've got the habit of murderous rampages. Like, hm, taking over Earth, and then maybe snapping a few necks or, yeah, even  _throwing them out of freaking windows-"_

"Oh, shut up about that _damn_   _window_ already!" Loki snarls, his voice missing the usual angry edge. Tony purses his lips.

"Do you often enjoy destroying civilizations?" he pushes and watches as the god's jaw muscles jump.

"As a matter of fact,  _I do!"_  Lokisnaps loudly. Tony studies his side profile for a while. Loki's tense as a wire, hands gripping the strange wheel and eyes fixed on the road. The engineer bites the inside of his lip.

"No, you don't," he eventually says, surprising himself with the gentleness of his voice. Loki doesn't say anything, but Tony sees a faint strain in his shoulder relax and his eyes silently grow a little softer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! :) Please leave a comment or kudos! ♥
> 
> TIE fighters and X-wing fighters are from the movie series Star Wars.  
> Pics for reference ↓  
>  **TIE:** http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080313170857/starwars/images/0/03/Tiefighterfull.jpg  
>  **X-wing: ******http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090319165201/starwars/images/f/ff/X-wing_SWGTCG.jpg


	7. Speeding up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my darlings! ♥
> 
> I'm _super_ sorry that it's taken this long!! I haven't been feeling very good and I've been so stressed out because I've been so busy. Now it should get easier, and I hope I'll be able to update soon again!
> 
> Thank you for reading this far! :)

Tony's having conflicted feelings about Loki.

On the other hand, Loki is polite and gentle with children, and this far has even taken care of Tony when he'd needed it. From time to time, he just looks so tired.

But nevertheless, the guy can just outright kill someone without a blink of an eye, seems to be no stranger to theft or deceit and is not bothered the slightest by anything when getting what he wants or, according to him, surviving. He might just throw a tantrum when he feels threatened or just sulk when Tony says something hurtful.

So, it was kind of inconvenient for their forced companionship, also.

Anyhow, they'd been driving for five days by now, stopping only when strictly necessary, and it was driving Tony insane (and most likely Loki too, but perhaps a little slower). He'd just spent too much time with the guy. His wounds had already healed and since the resident demigod took care of the driving, he was left with nothing but the maps and some thin books, which he ended up studying in lack of anything else. At first, he'd asked Loki what particular words (or what he'd deemed to be words) meant, but the air had soon shifted from neutral to irritated, so he let it drop and tried to decipher the language by himself. It wasn't easy, but it gave his mind work that it'd been craving for, so he stubbornly kept translating the alien texts.

When the sky started to darken on the fifth day, Loki however interrupted his rapid scribbling. He'd just managed to crack a new noun, which he now tried to apply to other parts of the text. The language was pretty tricky, the words seemingly having many grammatical cases and synonyms.

"That's our destination," the trickster said, nodding at a large city with lots of blinking lights, tall buildings and aircraft taking off or returning from wherever they'd been.

"Looks kinda over-fancy for a thug planet, I'd say," he commented dryly, but didn't avert his eyes back to the papers in his lap. Loki scoffed softly.

"Well, Taeer is also known for its corrupted leaders and nobility, although that is something not openly to be discussed."

"Of course not."

They drove for a little while longer until Loki joined a road leading towards the lower sections of the city. Tony'd studied the capital's structure, even memorised it, since he had one small booklet wholly about it, and it appeared to consist of different layers; labor workers, the poorest citizens and the machines that did work such as plumbing, heating or producing electricity as well as factories on the lowest level, almost completely under the ground, varying shops and families on the next levels and the richest and most powerful on the top levels, amazing views and exquisite businesses and companies to entertain them and provide jobs.

Darkness engulfs them as they descend to the shady stone streets below the brighter levels above, and Tony catches glimpses of scrawny and dirty aliens; most working, some begging and others just lying on the ground, looking half-dead or drugged.

Tony shifted his eyes to the front, not wanting to see as he couldn't help.  He scratched at his chin; his beard was out of control. Now his signature goatee was starting to disappear in midst of his stubble. Loki, for his part, still wasn't sprouting a single hair from his jaw. Tony wasn't sure what to make of that.

They pulled up in one of the alleys, abandoning the vehicle there and stuffing all their little belongings under their cloaks. Tony fastened his makeshift belt that the Chitauri scepter hung on, rearranging it for the thousandth time since it kept poking his flank.

"Did you memorise the city?" Loki asks him as they leave the rover.

"Yup. You know your way around?"

"Not down here, no. On the main streets on the other hand, yes."

"Right. Well, they manufacture the ships there," he pointed in the direction of a big clearing between the buildings surrounding it, sounds of work echoing from there, "then they haul them up through that road." He moved his hand towards a liftable pier a little farther away. Loki nodded and pulled his hood on.

"Let's head there. Cover up," he beckoned Tony. The engineer too pulled his hood on and walked by the trickster's side on the aisle.

"Stay close, these people are desperate, starved _and_ criminal," Loki said softly.  Tony didn't answer but kept close anyway. They walked for a few minutes in piece, until a crazy-eyed, human-looking, skinny man charged hard against their shoulders. Tony grunted as he felt the man's hand probing at his belt, looking for pockets or a purse.

"Hey!" he exclaimed and grabbed the guy's wrist, who instantly tried to spun Tony into a wristlock so that he could get free. Fortunately and thanks to Happy, Tony has experienced similar moves way too many times to get caught in one, thus he bats the man's other hand (on its way to their joined ones) down and away. Loki snatched the wrist Tony'd just deflected, gripping it with bruising strength.

"Do you have a death wish, you scum?" he hissed at the guy, but his eyes were glued to the sorcerer's wrist. He begun trembling and stuttered,

"T-t-tha-th-anos..." he let out weakly, before bellowing, _"YOU ARE THANOS' PROPERTY!"_ Tony glanced at Loki's wrist and saw that his sleeve had slipped from it, exposing his pale skin, the branding mark standing out like a sore thumb in contrast.

The few people that hadn't already turned to see the commotion, spun around at the last yell. Everyone seemed to be contemplating what to do for a split second.

 _"Shit,"_ Tony heard Loki hiss, and then he struck the man's neck, who fell to the ground. He seized Tony's arm and began pulling him with, the engineer running right after, both kicking and pushing through the raging crowd.

"Is there a prize on our heads or why're they attacking us?" Tony rasped between breaths. They were both talented fighters, making the malnourished and untrained workers no match for them, but it was still tough to make it through so many people.

"I believe so," Loki breathed out, sharply, as his elbow connected with someone poor guy's nose. Tony grunted and slipped past Loki.

"Follow me!" he yelled at him, jumping on a barrel and using it as a ladder to climb up the wall it was resting against. Someone grasped his ankle but he kicked it off, jumping again, and grabbed the windowsill of a windowless window (okay, it was not his fault that that sounded outright stupid) and climbed in. Just as he'd gotten in, Loki squeezed through the small window and fell on top of Tony.

"Bwaahh," the engineer exhaled and scrawled from under Loki. Once the god straightened, he shot a glare at him.

"Did you kill him?" he asked, clenching his jaw and meeting Loki's eyes square. The noises from the streets seemed to magnify as he stared impassively yet somehow heatedly back.

"No, Stark, I did not, he's merely unconscious. I do not kill the innocent, you mortal."

"Ha! Well what about that salesman then? Was he a _pawn_ of Thanos too?!" All the concealed feelings surrounding the issue were spilling out now, and Tony had the feeling he'd later on regret them.

 _"HE WAS A RAPIST AND AN ABUSER!"_ Loki bellowed, making Tony flinch. He took a steadying breath before continuing, an even fire burning in his eyes, "I know this, for I've been here before. He visits the annual marketing fair held here in the capital." Tony sees him swallow tightly, as if trying to contain himself before he rips someone (probably Tony, in this case) apart. "There's nothing,  _nothing,_ I hate more in this universe than rapists and abusers. _Especially_ child abusers." Tony thinks back at the skinny, tightly wound assistant the merchant had had.

"...sorry," Tony manages.

"Save it. We have to move on, they'll soon come through the doors." He nods and they find stairs to the roof. The smoke from the factories prickles in Tony's eyes and he can hear some kind of sirens ringing down in the streets.  _That's probably on us._

"How are we gonna get away?" he asks as they eye the roofs near them. The nearest ones are still pretty far away, and Tony isn't sure (even though he isn't very willing to admit it) whether he'll make it to the other side. And since they still have the damn collars, if the other falls, the other comes with. Loki steps closer to him.

"We jump," he deadpanned and, suddenly, kicked Tony's feet from under him.

_"Whoa–"_

He grabbed Tony from the air, sweeping him off bridal style. The fucker even had the nerve to smirk at him as he twirled towards the the edge.

"You ass, let me down–"

"Do you trust me?" he cut Tony off, rendering him very much dumbfounded.

"...no." Loki's smile widened.

"Good," he replied just before he surged towards the edge of the roof. Tony let out a small yell (a manly one, of course. Totally a manly one) as he jumped, and gripped the fabric of Loki's robe a little tighter. They landed quite softly for such a long distance.

"What was that for?" Tony asked as as the god let him down, frowning at him grumpily. Loki smirked again.

"Superior strength to you puny mortals, even if I don't have my magic now, remember?" he answered silkily, walking cockily past Tony as he did.

"Prick..." Tony mumbled and heard the god snicker faintly. He followed after the guy and they slid down from the roof by some ladders and more windowsills, and once they hit the alley's stone they begun running along the zigzag streets between the buildings. Tony'd memorised this part of the city also, so it wasn't too hard to reach the aircraft factory before they were to be found.

They'd earlier agreed that they'd find a hide from the cargo and escape once on the top layers of the city. Their plans had been somewhat distorted by the angry crowd and the sirens, but the basics were the same. Now the security would probably be more strict. So, they rendered two workers unconscious and borrowed (yes,  _borrowed,_ only for a most likely extended period) their clothes. They were orange-yellow and big and smelly and awful, but they'd have to do. They stuffed their own clothes and their other belongings into a bag the other had had and hurried to the pier about to take off.

They slipped on without drawing too many attention, let it be the clothes or the bustling streets and the busy workers, and got into the nearest medium-sized spaceship.

"Alright, we shall leave at the precise moment we see the sky," Loki said as he buckled in and pressed some buttons. Tony nodded and hummed in response, also buckling in and trying to help the god with getting them ready to leave.

The ship jerked as the pier begun to ascend, and Loki continued pressing buttons furiously. He pursed his lips.

"We have a problem," he said.

"What is it?"

"We are missing a piece, one that they shall add on some other level," the god replied tightly, wiping his brow. "A precaution maybe, for people like us." He threw a look in Tony's way, who huffed a laugh softly.

"Well, we'll get it there. Better hide somewhere for the meantime though, eh?" he said easily, getting up and walking further into the ship; it seemed to have two sleeping cabins, a small kitchen and an even smaller bathroom. Still, a jackpot. Loki followed after him as they sat on the sleeping cabin's floor, trying to listen to the sounds coming from outside. The pier had just stopped and people are talking. In gibberish, of course.

"They'll install the piece," Loki says, a strangely hopeful look on his usually emotionless face. A few moments pass until the ship jerks again.

"Now!" Loki urges and pulls Tony up with him, both running to the cockpit and jumping to their seats.

"It's in flying condition," Loki breathes out, smiling toothily.

"Nice," Tony replies, also grinning, "We can get off on the next level, should be enough room."

"Good."

When the pier finally stops on the next level, Tony feels Loki start the engine and right after they are as good as gone. The ship is unbelievably fast, and they're leaving Taeer's airspace almost immediately after their takeoff. He lets a scream of delight as Loki speeds up even more, quickly shaking off the planet's airforce that had been patrolling in the air.

 

* * *

 

Loki flies throughout the rest of the night and meanwhile Tony dismantles some of the engine's casing, trying to find out if they have some sort of a tracker. He finds nothing of sort, but does discover a radio line back to the planet, which he quickly cuts out. They stop only when Loki finds a spot which they both agree to be  _definitely_ a safe place to crash. They walk to the sleeping cabin (they can't separate enough to be able to sleep in different cabins) they'd been hiding in previously and outright fall on the bunk. They sleep for about eight hours until they finally manage to get up.

They find a couple plain, military-like, grey shirts and sweats from the cabins and change into them, take turns waiting as they tend to their needs in the bathroom and then, shower fresh, _shaven_ and in clean clothes (and it feels _so_ good), tread to the kitchen to rummage it through. They find some cans containing conserved alien food and a barrel of water. They presume they'll most likely last about two days with those.

They sit down to eat on the round table-thing in the kitchen. It's kind of peaceful now.

"Hey, Rudolph," he says as he nibbles at the white, fish meat-like content of his can, "Sorry for judging you too early. If you were speaking the truth just now, then I shouldn't have gotten that mad at you. I mean, you know, killing is wrong and all but–" he sighs. "I would've probably done the same if I knew what you do." He meets Loki's eyes, which seem softer and kinder than ever.

"Do not apologize, Stark. I would have been suspicious myself, especially if I were at disadvantage like yourself–"

Tony clears his throat and glares at the god, but he just smirks playfully and laughs.

"Eat your food," he commands and gulps down some water. Tony pushes some of the stuff into his mouth.

"You're in a good mood, huh?" he comments as he inspects the contents of his can.

"Once in a while, even I'm ought to be." The god cocks his head as he extends his hand to grab his second can. "I like the action, and we just escaped Thanos' radar completely. If we proceed carefully, he shall not find us again."

Tony smirks, "That's true. And yeah, it was kinda fun. But still, cover up that wrist."

"As you wish, mortal."

The rest of their meal is spent in a companionable silence or small talk/bickering. It's kind of nice, and Tony feels more at ease and like home than he's felt in almost two months (48 days, to be exact). So, he lets himself relax a little and enjoy the witty company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! ♥ Please leave a comment on this chapter or kudos if you enjoyed reading! :)


	8. Of planets and magic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, all you lovelies! ♥
> 
> I hope you've been enjoying the story so far, I still have many many ideas in store for the future chapters, and I really hope you'll like them too! But anyways, as always thanks for reading this far, I really appreciate it. I've been writing like crazy these days, and I hope this inspiration doesn't fade away anytime soon.
> 
> Enjoy this chapter! :)

"What about this one?" Tony asks as he points at a small solar system and zooms into it. He'd earlier that morning found a small device that's seemingly supposed to display the galaxy via holograms. It had took little time getting used to, but luckily he's experienced with technology like holograms. Also, the small texts near the planets, stars and whatnot are in the same language he'd earlier studied, thus he somehow gets by, recognizing the common and basic words.

"We can get fuel and food, and it says the people are liberal and... cohesive?" Loki shifts his eyes from the tablet-thingy in his hand and leans into Tony's space.

"You probably confused that character with the similar one. It says 'polite'," he provides and leans back.

"Right. Polite, and they also have many different species." He taps open a picture showing different types of aliens walking along an aisle.

"They are very strict about their visitors. We'd have to go through a very thorough inspection before we could enter the solar system or any planet in it."

"Okay, not that one then." He zooms out of the solar system and starts looking for a new one. "What are you doing?"

"Just reading. The Taeer people seem to have pretty vast knowledge of other cultures and areas, despite being a vile nation," Loki answers and sweeps a finger on the glass.

"Alrighty. Hey, what about some Kree-thingy–"

"Absolutely not," the god cuts him off. Tony furrows his brow at the guy.

"Okaaay," he drawls, "not if you say so, dear."

"I'm glad you're finally listening to me, love," Loki counters, making Tony roll his eyes exasperatedly. He expands another part for further inspection.

"Did you know," Loki interrupts the silence after a while, "that humans can survive up to two months without food if provided with water? Shall we test that?" Tony stares at him blankly.

"The hell you're reading?" he asks and gets up from his chair, spiraling the small distance around the table between them. He leans over Loki's shoulder; the guy has a set of pictures and minuscule text displayed on the transparent glass screen before him.

"I was studying you mortals. Or should I say  _Terrans,_ as the locals do," Loki smirks at him and taps open a section.

_"Terrans are one of the species living in planet Terra, also known as Midgard or Earth, a species rare in any other part of the universe. It is known, that Terrans are oblivious of magic and many other forms of science as well as dull by their senses and weak by their bodies–"  
_

"OK,  _asshole,_ you can stop now," Tony cuts him off, glaring, "I get it, humans are trash blah blah blah..." Loki huffs out a laugh.

"I was merely reciting, mortal mine. This device claims to have information on all  _higher_ species. See, you made it in that category already." Tony slaps Loki's shoulder and the guy has the nerve to snicker. He sits back to his chair and snatches his map device back, putting his feet on the table as he does. He feels so relaxed nowadays that he isn't being held captive anywhere, and that he and Loki have seemingly cleared some air. He'd known since the day they'd first met that Loki was an interesting and a similar person to him (sans invading Earth), but only in the last few days has he really felt like they had an actual chance at becoming something more than just inevitable accomplices.

He also doesn't have the constant urge to jab at him, which kind of tells something (because since when does Tony Stark actually not have the urge to jab?), and even if he does, Loki isn't like the most and just shrugs it off or snarks back at Tony (given that the jabs aren't purposely hurtful, which has previously resulted in one sulking Loki). So, even though it's hard to believe, right now being held away from home isn't feeling that bad.

"Can I?" Loki asks and extends his hand for the map device.

"Yup, go crazy." He hands it to Loki, instead snatching the glass-tablet from Loki's lap. He flips through some pictures of aliens and planets on the screen.

"Here, I say we choose this one," the god states after a moment and points at a small, lonely planet apparently about two-hour-fly from their location.

"How's that?" the engineer asks, sliding the tablet back on the table.

"It has got all the commodity we require, little surveillance and travelers aren't uncommon. Also, the inhabitants are non-hostile and introverted, thus the main cities are mostly occupied by wayfarers."

"You've got a point there, Professor Snape. Well then, when are we leaving?"

"Now." Loki gets up and, smirking, Tony follows right after.

 

* * *

 

The planet has a pleasant, mild climate, unlike Taeer's scorching hot desert land. They leave their ship in a clearing where other travelers have also left theirs (a bit like a parking lot), and don't appear to be striking anyone as suspicious even with their strange clothes (they are a mixture of the clothes from the cabins and their earlier, ragged and dirty, clothes). They decide their priorities are obtaining food and water, fuel, clothes and weaponry. They don't have much currency, but the markets also favor trading, so they crab some stuff from the ship they deem unimportant (for example one of the two tablets in the ship and some ordinary and/or weird luxury machines). Loki does most of their bargaining, since he speaks All-Speak, but Tony puts a word in between for Loki whenever he can, as he can still understand half of the conversation anyway.

The streets are bustling, tidy and bright, and most of the people are wearing tight tunics and long silk scarfs. Some of the shops are solely dedicated to clothing, which tells something about the importance of fashion and the wealth of the people inhabiting the planet. The fruits are weird yet good-looking, and they end up buying lots of them (since Loki seems to like them). Of course, they have to also steal something, so they snatch jewelry and purses from the rich looking bypassers and use them to trade and buy.

As for clothing, Tony buys a pistachio colored tunic with vine and flower patterns (which Loki insists on), black trousers, a navy blue, _tight_ jacket (another one Loki ~~the Fashionista~~  decided), some shoes and another shirt, a loose, dark red poet blouse-thingy. Loki buys a tunic in his customary green and black colors, black leather pants and boots and even tries his hand at a sea blue, tight shirt (who would've thought the guy'd have the guts to wear some new colors!). They also get some casual clothing, like white tops, leather clothing, socks and but no underwear (as it appears the aliens on the planet don't use those. Well, it would've been pretty awkward anyway).

As they pass some more tables, Loki abruptly stops with his eyes glued to a set of something shiny; it's a piece of leather, rolled open and it has scalpel-looking blades tied on it, as well as needles, a coiled, long, thin thread, peculiar-looking scissors and a small bottle of ointment.

"A first aid kit?" Tony asks as he eyes the thing.

"Yes. We should get it, don't you agree?" Loki glances briefly at Tony.

"Well, we do have bandages back at the ship but I guess it won't hurt. Do as you please." Loki starts bargaining with the shopkeeper and Tony glances around. Everyone's minding their own busy business as they babble on, hurry past and buy stuff from the streets.

"Alright," Loki says when he's finished, dropping the now rolled leather piece in one of the bags in his hands. "So, are the weapons next?"

"Sure," Tony agrees, "Where do they sell them?"

"Not on the main streets, that much is certain. I think we can find a proper shop somewhere a bit further, I read that there are a few." They walk away from the crowd and continue on another street, one not so full of people but not shady-looking or deserted either.

"Here, let's ask there," Loki provides and they step into a bright, glass windowed shop. The merchant welcomes them in gibberish, and Tony flashes her a fake smile and nods along as Loki greets her. The alien is pleasant, and it's easy to make the deal; a silver necklace with a big pendant and a weird-looking, presumably flat iron (from the ship) for two gun like weapons. They finish with their other purchases quickly and retreat into their ship right after.

Once inside, they hurry to cockpit to take off, being unable to afford staying too long. Once they're in outer space, Loki sets the ship on autopilot and they go to stock their purchases. Tony changes into the pistachio tunic, wanting to see how it looks on him; it fits him snugly, the smooth and silky fabric feeling good against his skin. He's just straightening the collar when he feels eyes on him. Turning around, he sees Loki's eyes roaming over him.

"It suits you," the god says curtly and, after a moment, turns away to assemble his own belongings. Tony blinks at him.

"Well, of course you'd think that, you chose it after all," he ends up shrugging it off, trying to play it cool instead of showing how the comment baffled him. Loki has previously commented positively on his appearance, but back then he'd let it slide as a side effect of being tortured daily.

"Nevertheless, it looks good," Loki almost  _mumbles,_ and Tony turns sideways to hide his –  _you gotta be fucking kidding me I'm no teenager how can_ I  _of all people –_ freaking  _blush._ He lets out a grunt as if that was an answer, but Loki doesn't prod for more.

 

* * *

 

It's been four days since their trip to refill their stocks and he and Loki are killing time in the cockpit, Loki shuffling through the ship's logbooks and some maps and Tony dismantling and remantling his gun they bought from the planet. It's beautifully built and Tony can't help but admire it.

"When can we stop by on a planet? I'd like to adapt this technology on my repulsors." Loki glances quickly at him from his holograms.

"Well, we need to acquire food soon nevertheless, so I'm thinking today if you're in a hurry." Tony grins at that.

"Cool. You know a good place then?"

"Yes. I was thinking this," he pulls up a picture of a planet, "We could even spend a night there. That way you could test your machines and we could practice with those," he continues and nods in the direction of Tony's gun. "Also, the planet is very deserted, nearly completely covered in forest and steppe. It has a few village type of cities where we can get nourishment and metal. I take it you can use some of the electricity from the ship, if we can't find everything there?"

"Yeah, no problem. And otherwise, sounds good to me."

It takes three hours to reach the planet and Loki lands the ship in a small meadow, partly hidden by big tree branches, a few miles away from the nearest village. Tony enjoys the walk; the planet's air feels clean in his lungs and the climate is little colder than on the planet they last visited.

The village is full of traders and ragged buildings and people. Tony's glad they'd saved the hideous, old cloaks, as they now don't stand out (though Tony suspects the planet doesn't anyhow connect with the outside world that much). They trade food and Loki helps Tony decide his purchases, and together they find the parts and their equivalents Tony can't find from the ship. They also get a welding machine and goggles of sorts and Loki spots some rare herbs and stones  _(for spells,_ he says) that he doesn't seem to be able to resist, so they buy them also. He also finds two ancient-looking, _thick_  books and the god momentarily turns into a kid as he trades them for two silk scarves and some gold coins. Pretty valuable then, too.

When they make it back to their ship, they're both feeling unnaturally cheery and content. Loki immediately sets camp leaning against the ship's frame, nose in one of the books as Tony starts welding, taking apart devices and putting together metal pieces. Instead of the element he'd created back on Earth, he applies the technology used as a power source on the devices in the ship and collects bits from here and there, welding them together as the core. He fusses with the joints for a long while and applies alien inspired wiring on the thing.

After six busy hours, the cold white sun starts to descend and Tony's gauntlet is ready for the last finishing touches. Loki is still reading furiously, though now he's on the second book and scribbling rapidly on a small notebook.

"Wanna see?" Tony asks cheerily, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. Loki looks up from his lap, seemingly disoriented for a second, like he'd completely forgotten where he was. Tony suppresses a smile; he and the god are similar in that category too. Loki smiles as he locks eyes with him.

"Sure." Tony grins back at him.

He aims his hand at a small boulder at the edge of the meadow. He charges the repulsor (the vibration feeling slightly different than usually, probably because of the different elements he's used, but just as thrilling as always) and fires. He hits his target, but the gauntlet jerks back violently and he falls on the ground. He lifts his head and sits up when he hears Loki laugh loudly.

"Shut up, I didn't know that stuff was so strong!" he yells at him, but can't stop the corners of his mouth from turning upwards.

"Oh, Anthony, you're such a pleasure to work with," Loki chuckles, shaking his head. Tony freezes for a moment. _He just called me_ Anthony _._  

And damn if that didn't sound good.

"Likewise," he quips back after a quick recovery. He looks back down at his hand. "I guess this one needs some fine adjustment." He hears Loki shuffle closer. He takes a hold of Tony's arm and rotates his hand, studying the gauntlet.

"It's beautiful," he says matter-of-factly and runs his fingers over the joints and melted solder. Tony hums, trying to hide how much he appreciates (and fucking _enjoys)_ Loki's praise.

"What're you working on?" he asks, changing the subject, and looks past Loki, at the pile of books and paper lying around the spot he'd just been occupying.

"I'm studying old magic. Mostly protective charms, powerful spells and blood magic." He pulls the book he'd just been reading to his lap; there is a complicated drawing of a celtic knot kind of symbol on top of a complex tree. The page next to it is swallowed by tightly written, unbelievably small text. He also sees a piece of parchment filled with runes and small drawings made by Loki.

"Wow," he comments in lack of better words.

"These books are very old and rare, and are much more valuable than what I paid for them." Loki swipes his hand against the sallow page of the book. "I can mix herbs and potions but I can't perform the magic needed for them to work." The god pauses, seemingly contemplating on what he's next about to say. For once, Tony keeps quiet, knowing that the guy needs the moment. Finally, Loki continues,

"I need your help in removing a chip from my neck," he blurts out, making Tony widen his eyes and blink a few times. The god quickly starts to elaborate, "Thanos had a small device put in the base of my skull that prevents me from using my magic. That's why I bought the blades from the market some days ago, so that you could remove it." Green eyes bore hard into his own as he listened the other speak.

 _He?_ Removing something from Loki's  _skull?_

"Are you sure about this?" Tony asks skeptically, shaking his head and blinking some more.

"Yes, Anthony," _again with that name,_ "I need it out. And..." Loki pauses and reaches for Tony's hands, grasping them gently, "...I know that you do not wholly trust me yet, but I've learned trust you and your kindness, and I shall swear to you by the Norns, that I won't betray you. I'll make a blood oath or hand you my weapons or–"

"Whoah, whoah, hold it right there, cowboy," Tony interrupts, slipping his hands away from Loki's and holding them up. "You want  _me_ near your  _spinal cord?_ You know, the important bit that I can use to fucking _paralyze_ you–"

"Yes, I do," now it's Loki's turn to interrupt, a tad impatiently. He breathes in through his nose and glances up at the dusky sky, "I don't have anyone but you, Anthony." He sounds grave and sincere as he looks into Tony's honey brown eyes, gaze unyielding and raw. It makes Tony's breath catch in his throat.

"...alright, I'll do it. When and where?" Loki flashes him a relieved, brilliant smile.

"Now, in here," he says, leaving no room for excuses now that Tony's already agreed, and pulls the genius up and into the ship with him. Loki grabs the leather piece the scalpels are in and they get into a sleeping cabin where the god strips the bunk if its covers. He pulls off his shirt hurriedly and after shoving the leather into Tony's hands and pulling him down to his knees next to him, he lies belly down on the hard, exposed surface of the bunk.

"You sure about this?" Tony asks nervously, slowly unrolling the leather and eyeing the blades and Loki's face in turns.

"Yes, I am. Now, do it."

Tony swallows and pulls out a blade. The whole thing is happening a tad too quickly. He eyes Loki's porcelain neck.

"I need antiseptic," he says and tries to get up, but Loki stops him with a hand on his arm.

"I'm no human, thus I don't get infections that easily. Just go on with it. Please." Tony looks into the green eyes for a moment longer and then brings his hands to the god's neck. Loki turns his head so that Tony can have better access and the engineer looks for a scar or a lump from the smooth skin. Loki grabs his hand and pulls it a little higher, near his hairline, and there, Tony can feel something very small.

"Okay, going in," he warns as he brings the scalpel to his fingers. Loki says nothing, and Tony takes that as a 'go on' sign.

The sharp knife sinks easily into the soft skin, and Tony instantly sees a small, metallic device. He pulls tweezers from the leather case and grasps the device with them. He pulls it out and sets it on the night stand next to the bunk. As he's about to announce he's finished and will now start stitching, small eruptions of green light sprout from around the cut and sew it closed, not leaving a trace behind.

Loki sits up abruptly, inhumanly fast, and as Tony surges to his feet and backs up, he gets up too. His hand glows emerald green when he extends it to Tony's throat. The engineer doesn't have time to react, it's all happening so fast, but he feels his eyes widen and sweat start beading at his brow. The hand closes around his neck and he hears a loud snap.

The collar drops from his neck and clatters onto the ground, and as he looks up, he sees Loki's eyes sparkling with mirth and laughter. Loki's collar is also lying on the ground near Tony's.

"You son of a bitch!" Tony exclaims, laughing in tandem with Loki, and tries to push at his shoulder playfully. Instead, Loki grabs his arm and pulls him into a hug, still laughing. He twirls around as he adjust Tony to his hips like he's but a child and Tony can't help but laugh even harder. He ends up straddling the god's lap when Loki sits down, still holding Tony close.

"Thank you, my dear Anthony," the god says softly, voice full of affection Tony didn't know he could muster. He smiles to the cabin's wall.

"You're welcome, Lokes."

 

* * *

 

They spend the rest of the evening finishing their projects, Tony adjusting the gauntlet and Loki scribbling the last notes as he plays with his magic at the same, propelling green light around his hand or trying small tricks he picks up from the book. When Tony's ready, Loki insists on casting a protective spell on the gauntlet, craving a complicated, circular rune on the hardel with his magic, one he claims to stand for 'protection', and stating a half an hour long spell, as well as performing a complex ritual that includes burning herbs and crushing stones and throwing salt on his gauntlet.

Once the spell is ready, Tony finds nothing different in the gauntlet, except for the stunning carving and a string of runes circling the wrist part. Loki tells him that if he ever needs the protection, it'll show itself but before that it'll seem as nothing more than an ordinary gauntlet. Well, as normal as a reactor powered repulsor, inspired by and built from scraps of alien technology, topped with an ancient protection charm and a piece of workpractically patented by Stark Industries, can be.

Before the night falls, they test the guns a few times and then gather their belongings and carry them inside the ship. They spend a couple of hours eating and chatting in the kitchen, both still buzzing with endorphin and adrenaline from the day. Then they clean up and go to sleep, this time into separate cabins. It feels weird, sleeping alone when for the past 54 days he's been either sleeping with Loki in the same room or just on the other side of the hallway, able to hear every movement he makes. Now there's a thick wall between, successfully muffling all the sounds coming from there. He hears a faint clack of a door closing and a silent sound of a drawer being drawn, but nothing else. No steady breathing or feet pacing on the floor.

Eventually, he climbs to his bunk and draws the comforter up to his ears. He doesn't feeling like sleeping, but the exhaustion from the day renders him into it probably hours later.

 

\--

 

 

_Arms holding him down and strapping him against a table; a branding mark pressed to his body as someone cuts through his chest; it smells of sand and dirt and blood and metal, but he can see the space surrounding him and the figures hovering above him; then someone pours water over his face and he's drowning; someone burns his feet with fire at the same as he's drowning; another one threatens his planet, his friends, his family, his home, his–_

 

 

_\--_

 

 _"Anthony!"_ someone screams into his ear and Tony realizes his trashing and making pathetic noises in the back of his throat. He jerks his head towards the person holding him down in panic and tries to twist away, but there's no escape.

"Anthony, stop it!" the man yells again, and this time Tony recognizes him; it's Loki.

"Loki...?" he whispers and coughs a little to clear his throat. It's feeling sore and raw like he's been screaming (which he probably has if Loki's here) and he's trembling all over.

"Yes, it is me," the god says, a shadowy figure in the darkness, hunched over him, holding Tony's legs between his knees. He cups Tony's face with his big hands. "It's alright now," he reassures. Tony stares into the green eyes (the emerald visible even in the darkness of his cabin) and after a moment, nods shakily.

"Yeah," he says. Loki's shoulders sag and he presses his forehead briefly against Tony's. He then pulls away Tony's covers and joins Tony under them, pulling the engineer close. He presses his nose into Tony's neck and breathes deeply. Tony thinks that either he gave the god a really good scare of he'd been having a nightmare himself, but he doesn't linger on the thought. As Loki's arms circle his abdomen, he feels safe immediately, and, surprisingly, sleep starts clogging his mind.

Every following night after that, they sleep together in the same bunk, entwined, according to a wordless agreement between them. And Tony's secretly very happy about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! ♥
> 
> Do you think Loki/Tony is developing too fast? Please leave a comment! :)
> 
> Some examples of [celtic knots](http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs17/f/2007/218/3/9/Flash___Celtic_Knots_1_Line_by_sidneyeileen.jpg)  
> An example of a ['protection' rune](https://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/5349832/il_570xN.282013620.jpg)


	9. Making money

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii! ♥
> 
> Sorry it took a while, I was on a trip to North with my bestie, but now I'm back with a new chapter! I hope you like it... ;)
> 
> As for the next one, it's already halfway done, so I'll hopefully be able to update soon again!
> 
> See you :)

_"Oh, my god..." Tony mumbled. They would have to fight. He clenched and unclenched his fist, where it was hidden behind Loki's back, feeling the gauntlet tightening around his hand as he did. It was a small comfort. "We'll have to make our move soon, Loki." The god nodded._

 

* * *

 

Tony was half lying on top of the kitchen table and fiddling with one of his gauntlets for probably the millionth time. It'd been about two and half weeks since he'd built the first one, and had since made it a pair as well as some chest and shoulder plates (which were unfortunately kind of small, since he couldn't really forge with the equipment he currently had). He'd altered some of the leather clothing to fit the plates and gauntlets and, even though he was no designer, it did look pretty good. Loki'd also voiced his approval, so it probably wasn't too human-styled either.

He and Loki had also talked about their trip back to their galaxies, and after fully figuring out where they were, noticed that it would take quite a while to reach Earth, for instance, again if they couldn't have access to a similar portal they'd earlier gone through. It could take years even, in the worst case scenario. Loki'd been very tight-lipped about where he'd be going, but Tony'd let it slide, not wanting to be too pushy since that tactic had proved not to work on the guy (quite the contrary, to be honest).

Also, apparently the branding marks couldn't be healed by Loki's magic without some herbs from Asgard, since an already healed wound wasn't as easy to fix as a not-healed one, or something like that. The scars were ugly as fuck, but it couldn't be helped (and it didn't really harm their progress as long as they kept them covered and hidden well).

As to Loki and Tony's relationship, it was about the same as before, Tony'd guess. He'd say they were _sort-of-friends_ by now. Loki was more open and forthcoming with him, though he still didn't share that much and Tony was like Tony, just still not quite completely trusting the god. It was a big thing for Tony really. He didn't even completely trust all of his teammates, by now. But to his defense, Tony'd been betrayed by the man he'd held in a position similar to a father in his head, once. And, well, on the other hand, Loki  _had_ killed Coulson, thrown Tony  _through a window,_ invaded Earth and yadda, yadda, yadda.

So, it wasn't perfect, but so far, it was working.

Now, before they would both die of boredom (since Loki, too, seemed to be running out of planets to study and stuff to copy and expand from his books), they were headed to another planet to fill their storage and, maybe, attend a carnival the inhabitants apparently held at this time of the year. Loki was thinking they should stay for a few days (during the carnival, so it would be less suspicious as travelers were in any case staying there) so that they could earn some currency; they were running out of stolen stuff and things to trade from the ship, and Loki'd said it wasn't unheard of of sorcerers to travel between realms and planets, healing or doing whatever magic tricks, to earn their living. So, they were going to go with that.

By midday, they begun descending, flying in the airspace for almost an hour before finding a good place to land, as the place was bustling with aliens coming to attend the carnival. They parked their aircraft and found a motel sort of accommodation nearby. They booked a room and set camp there. Tony was grateful for the change, stretching happily on the king-sized bed in their room.

"This even feels like a bed! Not like the lumpy mattress we sleep on back in the ship," he said and eyed the dirty white ceiling, as Loki busied himself with unpacking some of his bag. The raven haired god hummed.

"Don't get too used to it, we won't be staying for too long," he said dryly, but there was humour in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah, tighty-pants. When'll you start taking customers?" Tony asked instead, rolling over to his stomach, so he could see the god. The black leather of his otherwise sea blue tunic (wearing a green tunic could've more likely led to someone recognizing him, as it was his signature color and he'd be doing what the god was perhaps most well-known for, which was sorcery) hung low by his knees and twirled in the air as he turned to assemble his things on the stands in their room.

"As quickly as possible," he answered without looking. "And, by the way, you shall be my servant."

"Your– _your_   _what?_ Servant? Why the hell?"

"It's suspicious if you're not. If you could do magic, it wouldn't be a problem, but if a mage is travelling with an useless mortal, it will be conspicuous." Tony pouted at him. "Oh, please, Anthony, don't be ridiculous. You know _I_ don't think you useless. It's merely that they will, if you cannot perform magic." Loki was beginning to know him too well.

"Yeees, alright, I'll be a servant. What do you want me to do?"

"Just hold the spell ingredients out for me and obey if I tell you to do something. Don't worry, I won't abuse my temporary mastership," the god smirked at Tony, and the engineer puffs out air.

"Right. You ready to go then?"

"Yes, let's go."

 

* * *

 

Hours. Hours of standing still and running around obeying Loki's commands under the scorching sun (why was it always scorching when Tony had to stay out longer than a moment?).

It was exhausting, and Tony's nerves were already in shreds, as the customers kept commenting on him either with disdain or appraisal that sent creeps up Tony's spine. Luckily though, he more often than not didn't understand their alien gibberish, but their eyes roaming over his body or even occasionally their hands touching him, were indicators enough. Tony was glad for Loki in those moments, since the guy had taken on deflecting the conversation away from Tony and quipping nastily about manners when touching someone else's property. (Though Tony didn't like being referenced as 'property', but it was better than the bastards getting all handsy with him.)

Now, Loki was healing a small child from a case of a painful-looking burn. Tony eyed him, as he smeared an ointment on the burn and mumbled a few words. The wound began closing up immediately, new tissue covering the old as the wound flaked off, and Loki patted the child's shoulder affectionately.

What a big softie he was under the core, Tony thought, amused.

"Alright," the taller man said, as he'd collected the coins the child's parents had offered and walked back up to Tony. He placed the jar of ointment on the tray the engineer was holding and deposited the coins in a small bag hanging from his belt. "The sun will soon begin to set, but we still have time for a few customers." He took the tray from Tony, setting it on the desk in their stall (they'd rented one) and grabbed a water flask. He took a long swig and then handed it to Tony, who drank his own share.

"You still good to go?" the engineer asked as he screwed the flask closed again. Loki was looking as exhausted as Tony felt, even with his so-called 'superior' strength. The heat and the continual usage of his magic were taking their toll on him. Loki raised his eyes to look him in the eye.

"I'm fine. You are the one that looks like they're about to pass out from heat exhaustion," he said, and flicked Tony's forehead gently as he walked past. Tony scoffed and rubbed at the spot that had just been assaulted. He picked the tray up again, but stayed again a little behind as he watched Loki lure in customers. After a moment, the tray fell from his hands when a strong hand closed around his wrist, fast and hard.

"Wha–" he began but was cut off by a flood of gibberish sprouting from the alien man's (at least he supposed it was a male) mouth. His skin was the color of a white human and his physique was about the same, with the exception of near animalistic facial features. He was a lot taller than Tony, and the genius couldn't break away from his grip.

"Excuse me," Tony heard a cold voice from behind the alien. Two pale hands struck and snatched Tony away, pushing him behind Loki's back and the other one staying to keep him there. "What do you want from my servant? It is an insult to me for you to merely barge here and seize him like he was yours." The alien answered something, his rough voice sounding amused yet intrigued.

"No, he is not for sale," Tony felt himself pale, as he listened to Loki's harsh voice, "How are you so sure he's a Terran? I bought him from Galador, far more useful than petty Terrans."

More gibberish.

 _"He isn't Terran._ Leave us at once, you dishonorable fool," Loki hissed. Some heads were already starting to turn into their direction and Tony felt the hairs at his neck rise.

It was _very_ important that the word didn't spread about Tony being human (or Terran, whatever), since how many sorcerers actually traveled with human servants? Not many.

The alien mumbled something, but fortunately turned to leave. Tony saw Loki's shoulders sag, but right after he was turning Tony over and ushering him to pack up their stuff. He himself sat on the counter, playing idle as his servant cleaned his stall, but Tony knew the guy's body language so well already that he knew how rigid his back muscles were. Tony packed swiftly and followed after Loki as he showed the way through the mass of people. Right when the stalls ended and the talking from the street was a little more distant, Loki pushed Tony into an alley and then teleported them into their rented room.

"What was–" Tony asked a little breathless, dropping Loki's bag and walking to the bed. Loki cut him off,

"Terrans are very rare, especially this far away from your realm," he'd said, "Some individuals pay serious money for them, for they make good slaves since most other species are much stronger than them. Easy to outdo, you see." Tony had to turn his head away from Loki's face at the statement. "Also, some collectors are rather taken with rare species."

"Ugh," Tony said, simply. He turned to look at Loki again. He was leaning against a table, his hands gripping it tightly. "So, what now?"

"I don't know... I think we should leave."

"...how much have you earned?"

Loki didn't answer.

"Loki, how much have you–"

"Not enough," he said finally, meeting Tony's eyes. "But we cannot stay here. It's too dangerous–"

"Well, what about you hocus pocus us some disguises and we switch stalls? You yourself said that there are many sorcerers here anyway, they won't notice a little thing like that.  _And,_ I can make some metal trinkets by myself. You know, back on Earth they sometimes make them in front of a crowd and, hell, I take it it's kinda popular–"

"No," Loki said firmly. Tony stared at him.

"Why not?"

"It's not safe to separate. If someone else somehow finds out that you are a mortal–"

"Cut that bullshit. I am completely capable of taking care of myself." Loki gave him a pointed look and Tony sighed. "Okay, maybe not against every hunk-alien that gets in my way, but I can wear the gauntlets. You even put that spell on them, remember?" Tony studied Loki's face; the god seemed to be conflicted by now. "Come on, Lokes."

He closed his eyes and breathed through his mouth before answering,

"If we stay, we shall stay together at all times. I shall cast an illusion as disguise on us, as you suggested, and you will be wearing the gauntlets. Agreed?" Tony huffed, rolling his eyes. "Agreed?" the trickster pressed.

"Alright, alright. Agreed," he said. Loki nodded and turned away from him in favor of unpacking his bag to see what he might need to refill.

Well, at least they were staying. They really needed the money, since the ship was starting to run out of...well, basically everything. They could always just rob what they needed, but the risk of getting caught was bigger with bigger needs.

"We shouldn't go out there anymore," Loki said, breaking Tony's musings. "The shopkeepers will soon be closing up, and the sun sets quickly here. We shall continue tomorrow."

"Sure." Tony begun shredding his clothing; he kicked away his boots and shrugged off the brown, modest tunic (a suitable cloth for a servant). He pulled on a white top and after squirming out of the leather pants, put on a pair of the ship's grey sweats. When Tony was finished, Loki was still arranging his stuff, completely absorbed in his doings.

The engineer settled on the bed and pulled his bag into his lap, rummaging through it. He took out his notebook, full of notes, equations and calculations, ideas for projects and his hand-drawn blueprints as well as other sketches. He begun scribbling, working on upgrades for the gauntlets and the suit he'd someday ( ~~hopefully~~ ) have the resources to build. He missed his lab, and how he didn't have to write everything down, instead being able to just fiddle with holograms and order JARVIS to do the sketches. But it wasn't so bad. At least he had something to write on, unlike when he had been held captive.

Tony wasn't sure how much time had passed, when the bed finally dipped and Loki sat down next to him; he'd changed into slacks too and was now eyeing Tony's hand as it skimmed over the page, writing and drawing as ideas popped to his head and as he solved his own calculations in his head. Bruce would be proud.

"You really must love what you do," Loki commented, almost  _fondly._ Tony's lips twitched into a small, crooked smile.

"Yeah, I do. Probably as much as you love your mojo and all your other mojo stuff." Loki rolled his eyes exasperatedly, but there was no malice behind.

"What is this?" he asked instead of lecturing Tony for proper usage of words. He pointed at a mess of writing and schematics.

"It's for the new suit. That's what's gonna be the HUD, I mean the face plate and its insides. And here," he flipped a page and pointed at another picture, "is the breast plate. I'm still working on the other parts, but I've got those somewhat figured out. The metal around here just works so differently than the ones I used back home." Loki hummed in understanding.

"Good work," he praised, and Tony felt irrationally good at the two simple words. He nodded gruffly and snapped the notebook shut.

"Wanna hit the sack for tonight?" Loki quirked an amused brow at the idiom, but begun pulling the sheets first down and then up and over them. Tony turned to his side, back facing the god, and Loki pulled him flush against his chest, like he did every time Tony turned that way. He then raised one arm and extinguished the magic light, hanging in a glass orb from their ceiling. He nuzzled Tony's neck when the darkness enveloped them, and Tony drifted off to sleep.

 

* * *

 

They woke up early the next morning, getting ready swiftly and preparing for a busy day on the street again. Loki booked them out of the motel and they deposited their unneeded property to the ship and grabbed Tony's gauntlets at the same. Otherwise Tony would've had them with all along, but the ship was more secure than a motel room when it came to robberies (which were more likely now when there were lots of travelers, mind you), and he couldn't have worn them on the street without an illusion. So, he'd decided to leave them. No, he was not paranoid.

But now that they needed to bother with a spell, he could take them again. Though, Tony was a little worried for Loki (just a little, not too much), since the guy would be exerting himself again. Especially now that he had to maintain another spell constantly, while doing more at the same. Well, Tony had faith in him (and _that_ surprised even himself).

The sun begun ascending to the sky, and they set their stall to a different spot on the street. Loki was disguised as a dark-skinned woman, tall and beautiful, wearing long, dark blue robes. Tony, on the other hand, was a little shorter than usually, a young, yellow-skinned man with curly hair. He was wearing somewhat similar clothing than yesterday, though now they were black leather and had matching blue with Loki's robes.

Oh, so a higher standing servant and from a rich house. How clever; now it would be more unlikely anyone would come asking to buy him. Furthermore, it seemed that the yellow-skinned aliens weren't at all that rare around these corners.

They worked for a long patch straight, Loki doing protective and lucky charms, healing injuries or doing somethings even harder and more specific, like hexing enemies or mixing short-term love potions. After five hours, sweat was beading at his (or  _hers,_ in this case) brow, and his face was slightly pale. Loki'd told him that he was still a bit weak after the suppressor that Tony'd taken out of his neck, and seven hours of working were beginning to show. Tony stalked over to him.

"You should take a little break, okay?" he asked, keeping the distance appropriate for a servant, and kept his head slightly bowed, not wanting to attract any attention. Loki eyed him with ~~his~~ her, since Loki's were green, brown eyes briefly, and then nodded.

"Just for a moment. Hand me the water," he commanded, authority coloring his female voice. Tony did, and drank too after Loki when the flask was handed back to him. Loki took a seat on the chair before the counter of their stall and Tony hurried behind him, beginning to massage his shoulders (he caught Loki off guard, which he was secretly triumphant over, but the god played along without a beat).

"You sure you can keep going?" he asked, kneading on a stiff muscle at the base of his neck. Loki closed his eyes quickly in apparent pleasure (it shouldn't had, but it made Tony flush slightly), before answering,

"Yes, Anthony. Furthermore, we need not to continue much longer." Loki craned his neck so that Tony could reach a sore spot at the side of it more easily, and sighed softly when Tony begun rubbing it.

Tony was just about to reply, when the noise from the street suddenly grew louder. His hands left Loki's shoulders and the god surged up to his feet, stretching out his hand and pulling Tony fully behind his back (which irritated Tony to no end, yet somehow moved him, also). He backed up, pushing Tony against the table and bracing his hands on either side of him against the table, effectively trapping Tony behind him.

 _"Loki!"_ he hissed silently, afraid of someone hearing the name. Loki shushed him. People were now running past their stall, and Tony heard heavy steps being taken not far away.

He grasped the fabric of Loki's sleeve when a group of Chitauris stopped before their stall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used [this alien](http://i.imgur.com/fKZ6qnw.jpg) from gotg as my base to the alien described in this chapter, but you can imagine him however you like. :)
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment or kudos ♥


	10. Backtrack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: feels

Tony and Loki stood there, frozen, and watched as the Chitauris stopped on their tracks. One of them was giving away orders, and they scattered, two staying by their stall. There were a few people who'd stayed there, Tony and Loki standing behind them, and the Chitauris began searching the others, moving a device over them, like a human airport worker would move a metal detector over a passenger. Tony could guess that it would be the end of their disguises.

"I think we should teleport. Like  _right now,_ _"_ Tony whispered sharply against Loki's back. He was getting more and more panicked over the situation; he couldn't stop thinking about going back to captivity, to that awful ship, to the torture and to the awful hands _probing at the reactor–_

His train of thought was cut off when Loki pressed harder against him, bringing his other hand closer to the engineer as if in reassurance. But the line of his jaw was still tight.

"I am unable," he said softly. Tony wanted to scream 'WHAT', but settled for hissing it at the other. He saw sweat dripping down along his face, glistening in contrast on the dark skin of his disguise.

"I am currently too weakened. I'm afraid, we'd be severed in pieces if I attempted it in my current state."

"Oh, my god..." Tony mumbled. They would have to fight. He clenched and unclenched his fist, where it was hidden behind Loki's back, feeling the gauntlet tightening around his hand as he did. It was a small comfort. "We'll have to make our move soon, Loki." The god nodded.

And then promptly shot a green ball of energy at the other Chitauri.

 _Alright, guess we're making that move right_ fucking _now._

The other Chitauri, the one not currently wrenching on the ground, shoved away the alien it was currently inspecting and surged their way. Tony leaned away from Loki's back and fired his repulsor at it, pushing Loki forward as he did, so that they could run. The god took a few steps before a third Chitauri – it had turned to their stall's way – fired at his way. Loki ducked, pulling Tony down with him so that he wouldn't get shot either. He fired magic at the three Chitauris, the two getting up already, and Tony blasted his repulsors at them.

"Come on," Loki huffed, grabbing Tony's arm to get him to his feet. They began running again, even got out of their stall, before blue energy hit Loki's back, causing him to stumble to the ground. Their hands were still connected, so Tony fell with him, watching as their disguises bled away. Tony quickly urged Loki back up and they continued running, until one of them shot at Tony's leg and another one from the front at Loki's chest. They fell again, Loki coughing up little blood from the impact.

_Shit._

Tony grasped Loki's collar, pulling him closer and firing his repulsor at the Chitauris that were beginning to surround them. There were six of them by now.

"Come on, Loki," he damn near pleaded, pulling the half-unconscious god against his chest, burrowing Loki's face in his neck to get the leverage to get them up again.  _"Loki,"_ he hissed desperately, pressing Loki against him with an arm on the back of the god's neck and firing at the Chitauris all the same. One of them stepped forward, aiming its scepter at them and firing, and Tony's eyes widened. He had no time to deflect that.

He raised his gauntlet to protect their heads just a little, squeezing Loki tight and closing his eyes.

...

A flash of light against his lids and a weird blam, followed by a dull thud, was what he saw and heard, instead of something he would have imagined to be detected from an arm being teared away.

Tony risked opening his eyes, and saw the Chitauri that had just shot at them lying motionless on the ground. A few Chitauris were hunched over its form, the others screeching angrily at whoever.

_Loki's protective charms._

Another Chitauri fired at them in its distress, but this time Tony knew what to do. He raised his gauntlet before the blast and watched as a golden shield appeared over them. When the blue energy hit it, it deflected the attack back to its dispatcher and the ugly fucker fell to the ground. Tony used the moment of confusion between the Chitauris to fire at two of them, quickly pulling Loki against himself and running through the gap he'd just created. He kept glancing back, holding the gauntlet up and occasionally firing at the Chitauris that had begun following them.

He ran until he tasted blood in his mouth, trying to shake their chasers. The god against him was on the edge of losing consciousness, but could  _luckily_  still run(the guy was _fucking_ heavy, and there was no way Tony could've carried him all by himself).

Loki's charms were working perfectly, and Tony managed to slip into a small alley. He listened as the Chitauris ran past them on the street, hastily trying to locate their fugitives. He kept still until he didn't hear any of the heavy steps. Then he looked at Loki.

"Here," he said, hands shaking with adrenaline as he pulled the jar of Loki's healing ointment from his pocket and begun unscrewing it.

"When did you...–" Loki begun weakly but Tony cut him off,

"I was standing right up against the table, remember? I've got swift hands and I figured we might need this." He ripped open the collar of Loki's tunic and smeared some of the ointment on his chest, over the injure. He made Loki lean forward and reached back, applying some to the wound on his right shoulder blade also. Loki hissed.

"Shhh, Lo, don't be a baby," Tony shushed him, voice gentle, putting the jar away. "We gotta go now. To the ship." Loki eyed him, a little disoriented, without moving a muscle at Tony's statement.

"Your leg," he said curtly, and Tony remembered he'd been shot there. The adrenaline had taken away the edge, but now the pain was starting to creep back. He glanced at the sluggish blood flow running from the gash in his leg. 

"It's fine. I could run here easily–"

"Treat it, quick, then we'll go. We can't afford you losing too much blood." Tony pursed his lips, but the look in Loki's drained eyes left no room for a debate. He opened the jar again and, rolling up his pant leg, begun adding the ointment to the wound (with the help of Loki, since the fucker didn't seem to trust Tony when it came to his own well-being). After that, they used the alleys to get to their ship, which was –  _thank god_ – Chitauriless. They got in and together piloted their aircraft away from the planet's airspace.

 

* * *

 

After flying far enough to be safe, they set the ship on autopilot and slumped on their bunk, limbs sprawled over one another and perspiration still sticking to their skin. They were exhausted and hurting, Loki even more so than Tony.

"That... _that_ was a close call," Tony commented a little breathily, after a moment of just lying there and calming their raging nerves.

"Yes, indeed," Loki answered, letting his eyes fall closed as he did. Tony rolled over to his stomach to look at the sorcerer. His hair was ruffled and his skin was dirty with dust and dried sweat, but he looked like he'd be alright after some rest.

"You okay?" he asked anyway and watched Loki turn his eyes towards him.

"Yes, Anthony. Thank you." He even flashed the engineer a small, yet soft smile. Tony quickly turned to look away when he felt his cheeks heat again. _For fuck's sake_.

"No problem," he mumbled and heard Loki chuckle faintly.

"How about you? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." He turned to look at Loki again. The god was eyeing Tony's face intently, staring long into his eyes, before breaking the contact in favor of turning his head back to the ceiling and closing his lids. They lied in silence for a while.

"Do you want to know why I invaded Midgard?" Tony felt his eyes widen and his mouth formed an o.

"Ye-yeah, sure," he said awkwardly, keeping his eyes trained on the god's face. This was  _huge._ Loki had told him next to nothing about himself, and now he was about to tell why he'd _attacked Earth_. Loki would trust _him_ with something so big. Tony wasn't even sure if he wanted to know anymore, but there was no backing up now. He pursed his hands into fists, waiting nervously for the god to begin.

"...I was raised as a brother to Thor, as you know, as the other of Asgard's two princes. I grew up in my broth-Thor's shadow, mocked for my lack of interest in brutal demonstrations of raw power, instead spending my time studying and learning magic, a craft thought by Asgardians to be suitable only for women and cowards in battlefield." He turned to look into Tony's eyes. His voice was bitter, but his eyes were plain sad. "I always felt different, not belonging in Asgard with the Aesir. And as of late, I discovered that I never truly did." He smiled softly at Tony's confused face.

"Is this about the adoption thing?" The god huffed.

"Yes, Anthony, precisely that. I learned my true heritage to be of Jotunheim, thus I am a Jotun, a frost giant, a monster that children are told to be afraid of and to despise with all their hearts. I wasn't in a good position then, mentally, and after fighting Thor, a let myself fall into a void. I hated myself and accepted my fate, even as Thanos got his filthy hands on me." Tony felt chills go down his spine at that. No wonder the god had looked beyond horrible when they'd been held captive by the Other.

"They tortured me, brainwashed me and put a scepter in my hand. I was to lead the Chitauri armies to Midgard and then rule as its king. I cannot say that I was completely under the control of the Mind Stone, but it wasn't truly,  _truly,_ me, who attacked your Earth. I was angry, hurt and disoriented. Only after that Green Beast of yours tossed me around, did I regain my awareness completely. Yet, I still remain angry." Loki rolled to his side, eyes locked with Tony's. He watched the engineer for a moment, before color bled away from his hands, replaced by blue. Tony watched in awe, as raised crescents and lines formed on his smooth, now blue, skin and his green eyes turned to striking red ones, when the blue reached his face.

When the transformation was ready, Loki averted his eyes to the mattress beneath them, as if waiting for Tony to reject him. Tony did the opposite.

"Wow," he breathed, tracing Loki's jaw gently with his fingers. Loki tried to jerk away.

"No–Anthony don't..." Then he blinked, stopping, and slowly leaning his cheek against Tony's open palm, studying Tony's face for any change of emotion. Tony just eyed him a bit confusedly. "This..." Loki gestured to the palm connected with his cheek. "It doesn't...burn you?"

Tony tilted his head, huffing, "No, of course not! Why would it?" Loki flashed him a brilliant, yet relieved smile, huffing himself, too. Tony couldn't tear his eyes away. He scrambled up to sit, pushing Loki back to his back and cradling the god's face between his hands. He turned it from side to side and then took in the waiting (and fucking  _anxious)_ look in the red eyes. Tony felt his heart jolt at the sight, and threw his leg over Loki, in a position that would be straddling him if he hadn't kept the space between their bodies. He looked firmly into the god's, Jotun's, eyes.

"You look gorgeous," he stated serenely.

Loki stared up at him blankly, then bit his lip, and Tony could've sworn there were tears in his eyes. He didn't have the time to make sure though, as he surged down to embrace the taller man at the same as the said man's arms circled around his back.

 _Now,_  he was straddling Loki. But it felt so _good_. He hadn't had proper human contact in almost three months (if you didn't count the sleeping hours), and to be honest, he was a little deprived. So, he didn't protest when Loki flipped them over, pressing against Tony and,  _suddenly,_ pressing kisses to his neck. Tony let out an involuntary gasp, it felt that good, and Loki continued his doings.

"Loki..." Tony pressed his nose into Loki's raven hair, breathing in his scent; mint, winter and leather. The Jotun seized Tony's wrists with cool hands at that, and held them against the mattress, preventing the engineer from moving them. Tony groaned and wrapped his legs around Loki's hips, and when the god found his sweet spot at the side of his neck and sucked on it, groaned some more. Soon, he found himself moaning ( _way_ too easily), as Loki ground his hips against Tony's. He blamed it on the deprivation and not being able to have sex or masturbate for three months straight.

 _And also on Loki's technique,_ he had to add after an especially strong spasm of pleasure.

As suddenly as it had begun, Loki stopped, and, retracting his lips from Tony's ear (yes, they'd moved over there), he leaned over Tony's face, keeping a good eight inches between their faces. Tony's heartbeat quickened impossibly even more, when the trickster slid his hands up Tony's wrists and threaded his fingers through Tony's, holding hands as he pressed a light kiss against his lips. It was sweet and unhurried, and his lips were cool against Tony's. The engineer's eyes fluttered closed.

Loki retracted his mouth again, licking his lips, as if tasting Tony, and looking down into his brown eyes again. Seemingly content in what he saw, Loki dropped his head back down, now kissing more hungrily and desperately. Tony answered with equal eagerness, nibbling and licking and opening his mouth for Loki to explore with his tongue. It was intoxicating, messy and perfect, and Tony found himself letting go of all the doubts and distrusts regarding Loki.

And _that_ was when the reality hit him. He broke the kiss, even as half of his brain protested strongly against it, and stumbled away from under Loki. The god let him.

"I-I...we can't do this," he sputtered before nearly running out of the cabin and entering the one next to it. He slid down the wall, and cursed to himself when he heard Loki throw something to the floor hard.

 

* * *

 

They spent the following night in separate bunks. Tony woke up twice to Loki's howls and more than that to his own gasps or screams. He was pretty sure he had made enough noise at least once to wake up Loki too, but no one had entered his cabin. And neither had he entered Loki's, for the matter. It was outright awful.

The next morning, they were both almost as exhausted as the previous day and sore because of their injuries and all the running. Tony greeted Loki curtly, as he entered the kitchen. Loki was already sitting by the table and nodded stiffly in return, back in his human form. Tony tore his eyes away from him and opened a cabinet. There wasn't very much food (or water) left anymore, but they'd be enough until they'd find a suitable planet for refill. He grabbed a can of alien food and poured water into a glass, then took his seat on the other side of the small kitchen table.

"Have you counted how much you made?" he asked the god tentatively. He was very ~~un~~ willing to forget all that had happened yesterday evening, and was hopeful that Loki'd think along the same lines. Loki pursed his lips.

"How much  _we_ made, Stark." Tony was a little startled at the use of his last name, but didn't let the hurt show on his face. He deserved this, he'd allowed Loki to do as he wished, hell, he'd _enjoyed_ it, and then just ran out on him like some jerk. He opened his can, avoiding looking into the emerald eyes.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure you did all the hard work." Loki sighed, but let the subject drop.

"Enough to buy all this ship was equipped with in the first place, including the fuel. We'll do fine for the moment being," he answered Tony's question and went back to the notebook in his hands. Which was...hey, that was Tony's notebook!

"Hey! What you got my notebook for?" he asked loudly, making a grab for it, but Loki twisted away so that he couldn't reach it.

"I'm merely reading, you fool. Leave me be."

"Like hell I will with my notes! Hand it over," he got up and rounded the table to Loki and tried again, in vain, to win the book back. Loki had now stood up, and with him towering over Tony and keeping the notebook away from his reach, the engineer had no way of getting it. "What do you even have it for?" he asked, waving his hand up as the stood on his tiptoes to reach the notes.

"I am going to get you what you need to build your armor, so shut your mouth and cease the flailing, mortal!" Tony stopped, frowning at Loki.

"Why?"

"...As an apology for my actions, I–"

 _"What?_ You don't need to apologize, Loki!" Tony exclaimed, raking his fingers through his dark brown locks. _The heck?_ "Why would you think that? It was all on me, alright? If anyone,  _I_ should be the one–"

"No, you shouldn't," Loki interrupted, "And what do you mean it was on you?"

"I have trust issues, okay?! A motherload of them, actually. I felt like I was gonna trust you, and I can't take that, not this soon, okay? So, it's not your fault!" he said sharply, voice nearly cracking. He felt lightheaded and tears he didn't allow to fall were prickling in his eyes, from telling all this stuff to Loki and showing weakness and being a pain, but he felt like he really needed to. Loki was quiet for a while, eyeing Tony as the other carded fingers through his hair and watched the kitchen wall intently.

"We'll precede slowly, alright?" the god amended finally, and Tony sighed in relief. Huffing softly, Loki pulled Tony against his chest, embracing him, and Tony breathed in his scent again. He sat down and pulled Tony into his lap, pulling the hands from Tony's hair into a nook between their bodies.

"Just, don't call me Stark, okay?" Tony asked quietly, trying to sound offended to cover how much he hated the fact that he had to ask Loki to do that. The Jotun showed no contempt.

"Of course, Anthony."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this chapter! ♥ Please leave a comment or kudos if you did :)
> 
> My [tumblr](http://cannibalpasta.tumblr.com/)  
> (new!)


	11. Liaison is needed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! :)
> 
> Sorry this chapter took a while, it's been waiting halfway done but I'e been super busy (I had finals), so I haven't been able to update as much as I'd have liked. But anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! The next one is already on its way, stay tuned ;)
> 
> (Also, I have a feeling that you might like the next one...)

The next couple weeks were quiet after that. They visited a couple planets, but otherwise laid low. Tony worked on his suit, and now the gauntlets had an additional vambrace to them. It was the same color as the gauntlets, the color of dark metal, embellished with runes and crescents that reminded Tony of Loki's true skin. It looked more like an actual armor, like the medieval or Lord of the Rings kind, but Tony didn't mind.

Loki and Tony were doing good, by the way. The same as earlier, maybe a little more touchy feely nowadays. It was kind of nice. Except for the feeling that Tony had. Like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, or some shit like that.

Anyway, now they were heading in the general direction of home, Loki piloting in the cockpit and Tony studying the starmaps to find a shortcut. Even though Loki had visited this part of the universe earlier in his life, he'd never had to use the portals as Heimdall (or whoever) had always been the one to zap them around. Thus, he couldn't help and they had to do it manually. Tony'd been at it for hours, and that was only for today, as they had both been looking through the never-ending maps for god knows how many days already (no pun intended. Well, slightly intended).

He sighed in boredom. He was just about to swipe his hand over the hologram to move the map around, when something caught his eye; it was a picture. He zoomed into it. A picture of a massive archway and a ship entering it.

He scrambled up, almost dropping the device and nearly falling himself, but he somehow got to the cockpit in one piece.

"Loki, darling, little Rudolph, my sweet Lokes, Lokipie–"

"Cease your rambling and do not ever again attempt to call me with those obnoxious names, Anthony," Loki interrupted him with a stern glare. "What is it?" Tony shoved the map device into his hands and sat on the edge of the copilot's seat.

"What does this one say?" he asked, pointing at the picture like a little child in a candy shop. Loki's eyes brightened for a moment.

"Oh, yes, Anthony! This is very good!" the god said, zooming into the location, reading the data and smiling toothily. "I'll enter the coordinates."

And with that, they were on their way towards the portal, which presumably could get them closer to their destination.

 

* * *

 

They hadn't really talked about it, what would happen once they'd reach Asgard or Earth or whatever. Actually, Tony wasn't even sure where Loki was planning to go, being a fugitive war criminal and all that. And maybe that was a problem, but neither one of them were willing to acknowledge it. Not yet. So, they just kept going in the general direction of  _'their realms'_ , according to Loki, at least.

So. It took them about a week and a half to get to the portal, and when they finally reached it, if Tony's counting was correct (which it always was), it was his 101st day off Earth. And wasn't that just depressing. Anyhow, they were closing in on the portal, and Tony was piloting the ship (yes, he had learned how to fly the thing) away from the mass of space crafts, but not venturing too far. And as usual, they had a minor problem.

It appeared that they would have to identify themselves in order to get through the portal.

Yup, yikes. Tony really wasn't looking forward to meeting some Chitauri soldiers again, if they were recognized as  _'Thanos' property',_ as that one alien dude had so prettily put. A shiver wracked his frame at the thought.

"So, what are we gonna do now? Should we just try and sneak in?" Loki glanced at him, but Tony kept his eyes on the portal before them. _So close, yet so far,_ he thought bitterly.

"I believe that to be our only course of action. If we wish to go through the portal, that is."

"Well, I didn't come here for nothing. I vote for dangerous and risky at best." Loki rolled his eyes at Tony's antics. The fucker probably knew already that the engineer often said the opposite of what he really thought.

"I could perform an illusion to hide our ship," he offered, instead of pointing out Tony's bluff.

"Great!" the human exclaimed, relieved, but then frowned, "You sure you're up to it, though? I mean, I know it's already been a few weeks since you used up all your juice, but you kinda took a hard hit and I don't want you to–"

"Cease," Loki interrupted his rambling. Tony was kind of grateful for it. "I shall fare just fine, Anthony. I will perform the spell and you'll guide this ship through the portal. Steadily, if you would."

"Alrighty, if you're sure, Lo. Just don't pass out on me." Loki tsked and got up from his seat, stalking over to the back of the ship. Tony waited, piloting and trying to attract as little attention as possible. He lowered the ship behind a large cargo ship to hide it from view, and after a moment of waiting, felt a cold current hit his skin.

"You ready back there?" he asked.

"Yes, you may proceed." With that, Tony flew their ship beneath the belly of the cargo ship.

"All set up, moving towards the portal." Loki didn't answer, but Tony was positive that he'd heard. The engineer kept his eyes on their destination and at the same on the rear view monitor to see if someone was about to fly through them, as they couldn't be seen nor sensed by any gadgets. Or, that's what Tony hoped, at least. But again, he had faith in Loki.

It took about a half an hour until they were at the front of the line, only two ships before them. It would be a tight squeeze getting through the portal, as the ship they were using as their Trojan Horse was flying kind of low, thus their own ship was very near the horizontal border of the archway. Luckily, their craft wasn't that big, so it should fit. Hopefully.

"You doing okay, Big Blue?" he called, and was answered with a strained, but an affirmative grunt. "Not long to go anymore, you just hang in there." It was probably pure torture for the god to be keeping up this level of a spell for so long. But he had to do it, otherwise they'd be toast.

Their turn soon came up, and Tony flew, as evenly as he could, underneath the cargo ship. He stopped when it stopped, right before the portal, waiting for it to continue moving. It was a long minute, as two small pods rounded the larger ship, and the captain was probably having a radio connection with some authority. Sweat beaded Tony's brow as the pods passed them, never noticing anything weird under the larger ship's belly.

Tony heard an alarm blare and the cargo ship begun advancing. He sped up gingerly and followed under the ship, only touching the portal when he saw the other ship's nose transfixing through it. Their ship touched the eerie, slightly luminous surface of the portal, which was displaying another set of space on the other side.

The alarm blared again, harder and repeatedly this time around, and orange spot lights were flashed on. His hands froze on the controls

_They had been noticed._

Hastily, he accelerated and –  _thank fuck –_ they got through the portal. He kept speeding up, staying down for cover. He saw two ships, armed, following them, and quickly maneuvered their craft to the mass of ships leaving the portal. He followed them, ducking beneath them and passing them, until he saw their pursuers no more. Tony sighed in relief.  _Thank god for lousy alien security workers._ Still, he didn't let himself relax yet. He couldn't be sure whether they were safe or not. And now they seemed to be visible again, so he wanted to stay attentive.

"I thought I said  _steadily,_ " he heard Loki commenting dryly, as the Jotun staggered to the cockpit with him and took a seat. Tony spared him a glance, taking in his pale and slightly sweaty face and exhausted eyes, and quickly turned his attention back to the traffic.

"Sorry, had to make some very quick decisions. I think we're okay now though. Can you see them?" Loki eyed the rear view monitor.

"No, I cannot. Still, let's stay with the crowd for the time being."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same," Tony replied, finding a somewhat secure spot between a group ships in the forking queue. He let out a slow breath to will his muscles to relax a bit. It didn't help. He let out an involuntary, and a little hysterical giggle.

"What do you find so amusing, mortal?" Somehow that made him cackle even more.

"We made it through the portal." He heard Loki chuckle next to him, and turned his head to look at him once more.

"Yes," the god said, but not without flashing Tony a brilliant, toothed smile, "that we did." 

 

* * *

 

Tony slapped a particularly persistent leaf out of his face, slightly irritated.

"Again, why are we here?" Loki tilted his head to glare at Tony briefly, before continuing on his path through the rain forest-y vegetation. It was hot and humid, and there were alien animals and insects all around them, although never in sight, eliciting a constant background noise as they shuffled through the large leaves and dangly branches.

"Because we need water and fresh sustenance, and because this was the only planet with living organisms on our route for days to come. Now, cease your jammering and please, be of use."

"I  _am_ of use. I'm keeping you decent company and I'm carrying containers for the water..."

"I don't know about _'decent'_..." he heard Loki muttering before him, and reached to kick the guy's shin. All that got from him was a low chuckle and a sore toe. _Damn_ , alien physique.

A few days ago they'd managed to continue their journey peacefully, leaving the portal behind them and beginning to explore the new galaxy. They'd soon decided their route and were now advancing their destination rather smoothly. But of course, they had to stop to refill their stock.

Fortunately, they had found this (god-awful) planet, and the two were now headed towards a some sort of a lay-by, where they could get water and perhaps, if they were lucky, some fuel. Other than that, the planet was uninhabited, so hopefully the place would be also empty. But who knows, maybe this place was a common recreation spot for alien 'truck drivers'. He hoped not, but had anyway put on his gauntlets and the pieces of armor, and Loki, too, had slipped around a dozen daggers in the hidden pockets of his tunic and worn a slightly thicker leather vest than needed for the planet's warm climate.

Well, better safe than sorry.

When they finally reached the spot, it was thankfully vacated. The whole place was basically just a small, treeless patch of scorched ground in the middle of the tropic forest, containing an underground well with a pipe and a manual pump attached to it above the ground. And that's it.

"Well, this looks promising, doesn't it?" Loki sighed at the brunet's quip, and walked over to the pump, disposing one of the three containers (they had six in total) he'd carried under the pipe's nozzle. He began pumping and luck was probably on their side for once, since clear liquid began flowing into the container. Loki continued until the container was filled to the brim, and then switched it with the another.

Tony walked over to the now full container. It contained about six gallons of water, which equaled around 50 pounds in weight. The route to their ship was approximately one mile. Tony could take that much.

"I'll just take this back to the ship, while you fill these here. I'll come back to help with the others then," he said and squatted to grab the container. He was stopped by Loki's hand on his arm.

"No, you're staying here."

Tony blinked in surprise and frowned at him. "You're not the boss of me," he snapped, shaking off Loki's hand. "I can survive a little trip trough a rain forest." Loki pursed his lips at him, disapproving.

"That is not what I meant. We should stay together. We do not know what bides in these woods. Also, travelers might come while we are separated and that knows no good, as I'm sure you're well aware of."

"We are more likely to bump into travelers if we stay here as long as it takes us to first wait until the containers're full, and only then carry them back to the ship."

"I can float them to the ship, if that ails you so much. That way we may carry them all at once." Tony frowned at the crouching god again.

"The hell you are. You're still exhausted from that spell you used on our ship the other day. I'm going now, if that's okay with your royal–" He begun to stand up, pulling the container with him, but Loki beat him to it. The asshat batted Tony's hands away from the container, and, standing up too, grasped his wrist. In an eye blink, Loki had slammed Tony up against a tree trunk and was now bending his upper body to snarl at his face.

"I tire of your mewling, mortal. Do you not understand how  _fragile_ you are? I could literally snap my fingers and you'd be dead by my feet! Do you not understand how easily any other could just–" He was cut off when Tony's repulsor beam clipped him on his armored shoulder. He instantly jumped back, shocked.

Tony had chosen that spot, because he knew it was one of the most well-protected parts on the god's body. Why, he had done it, was still a blur to him. For one, at least, was because he'd been outright  _terrified_ in that moment. Loki had been holding him down and spewing some shit about  _killing Tony,_ and that just didn't sit well with him. Secondly, he'd been furious. Not only because the asshole thought he was somehow in command, but also because he thought Tony was some damsel in distress. Thirdly, he wanted to prove that no, he was not fragile nor helpless and he had his armor and wit to prove it.

And it wasn't like it was something that could have hurt Loki. He had fired at minimum power and chosen the safest place he could reach, even then aiming slightly off so that the hit would only jar the god. He had just wanted to gauge a reaction. And boy, had he done just that.

Loki was standing a few long steps away from him, the look on his face so angry, disdainful and  _betrayed_ that Tony instantly felt his own anger bleeding away, being quickly replaced by nausea and pain upon seeing it, regretting his poor-ass decisions and impulse control. He didn't want to see Loki looking at him like that, like Tony had just shattered something very precious and tender. Which he probably had. He blinked and hid the pain Loki's face made him feel behind harsh words, as usual.

"Fuck you! I'm not  _fragile_ or anything you should handle like it was made of glass. _'Stark men are made of iron'–_ ," reciting those words made his stomach turn, but he didn't even care at this point, "–and whatnot. I'm grateful for everything you've done for me in the past, but enough's enough, Loki." Loki's face had morphed into an impassive,  _cold_ mask, and he kept eye contact as Tony spoke. Oh god, Tony hated that look. _  
_

"Fine," he finally said coolly, backing up a few steps to the container still sitting under the pipe. "You go and take the container back to the ship." He had cast his eyes to the ground as he spoke, so that Tony couldn't see them, and now lowered himself again to continue pumping. Tony did, and as he turned towards the jungle with the water in his hands, kept blinking away involuntary tears.

 

* * *

 

When Tony had left the container and cooled his head, he regretted everything. He regretted ever letting Loki get this close, letting him get under Tony's skin, regretted snapping at him and regretted repulsor beaming him. But the guy had stepped over the line and Tony couldn't just stand there and take it.

Actually, Tony was pretty sure they'd been tiptoeing around each other ever since that one steamy moment on their bunk, looking for each other's borders and buttons to push, waiting for that other shoe to drop eventually. Well, now it had indeed dropped.

Tony sighed and kicked at some dirt by his feet as he walked along the narrow and barely there road back to the lay-by. He'd have to apologize to Loki for beaming him, and hopefully the guy would understand.

A distant sound of an air craft stopped his musings. He twisted around, trying to catch a glimpse of the potential enemy through the thick leaves and branches many feet above him. He saw a ship passing over him, creating an air current and casting a shadow. Tony's eyes widened.

It was heading towards the recreational spot.

Panic flooded Tony's veins and he began running. He had to warn Loki that somebody was coming. Oh god, he needed to get there faster. It shouldn't take him more than five minutes at this point of the journey, but the ship above him was even faster than that, and all Tony could do was hope that they'd land some distance away from the spot.

He ran and ran and ran, and finally emerged through a bush to the clearing. Loki's eyes snapped towards him. He was in the process of filling the last container.

"Anthony? What is it?" he asked, alarmed.

"I saw a ship coming this way. Come on, we gotta–" Shots begun raining on their feet, leaving smoking, black dots to the dry patch of ground. Crap, it seemed that the ship's crew wasn't just a bunch of travelers, like he had childishly hoped.

Loki was by his side with inhuman speed and they ducked behind a large boulder for cover. It shook from the force of the blasts, but luckily didn't crumble. Tony peeked at their attackers from behind the rock's side, and quickly aiming, shot a couple times with his other repulsor at them. There were five armed aliens, bandits or bounty hunters from the looks of it. One of them took the hit to their side but the other was fast enough to evade his beam. The engineer ducked back to shield himself from the answering blasts. Loki grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait, we need to plan our actions."

"We don't have enough time. The gauntlets have your protection spell still on, right? I'll use the other to shield us and we make do with the rest. OK?"

Loki answered with a stern look in his emerald eyes, "Alright."

They surged to their feet, Tony bracing his left arm against the blasts and using the other to fire at the bastards. Loki was shooting magic from his hands and throwing daggers from behind his back, hitting his every target. The baddies seemed to be blasting away with electricity instead of deadly beams, so Tony figured they were most definitely bounty hunters or slave traders or such.

One of them had advanced pretty near to them, and Tony had to strike at the alien with his raised arm to deflect his close combat attack. He raised his other arm in its place immediately, but one blast from the bastards had still managed to slip through; pain flared up his right thigh as the ball of electricity hit it, and he choked off a scream, falling to his knee.

"Anthony!" Loki knelt right behind him, trying to stay behind the golden shield that erupted from Tony's raised vambrace every time a blast hit near it, or just wanting to stay near the human.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Tony hissed back at him, biting his lip hard. "See, I'm not even unconscious yet." He felt rather than saw Loki throwing a blade over Tony's shoulder, before the god grabbed him by the waist and hauled him back up.

"Just try to remain that way, please," he told the engineer, a bit strained. Tony settled for grunting as an answer, and aimed with his left hand to blast at one of the three aliens still standing. The masked alien dropped to the ground like dead weight.

The fight didn't continue long after that, the remaining two aliens getting beaten pretty easily. Still, they were sweaty and out of breath when it was over.

"Let us hurry," Loki interrupted their panting. "More may be on their way, and we cannot afford running into them."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, let's do that." His eyes flicked towards the _luckily_ still intact containers on the ground. Only one had busted during their brawl. "What about the water? How many can you carry? I can take at least a couple." Loki tilted his head to frown at him.

"You're not carrying anything, Anthony. You took a hit. I shall levitate them to the ship."

"No way, Reindeer Games. And besides, I'm not injured, I just got shocked a bit. And yes, it  _did_ hurt like a bitch, but I'm good now. Not injured." He continued and raised his hands when Loki kept looking at him suspiciously.

"You're not carrying any."

"I'll carry two, you'll magic the rest."

"...You'll carry one, I'll take care of the rest." Tony rolled his eyes, but accepted the god's terms.

"Fine. Now, let's get going."

They swiftly gathered the containers, Tony carrying one and Loki another, levitating the remaining two in the air. They walked to the path they'd created, cautiously eyeing the either dead or unconscious alien thugs scattered on the ground, and continued through the forest.

"...Sorry about that blast earlier," Tony apologized a little later as they walked, keeping his eyes trained forward. He heard Loki hum near him.

"It's alright, Anthony. Do not fret, it is not as if your puny attempts at provoking me could actually work," Loki taunted, but Tony heard the lie and the humor in it. He scoffed and kicked the guy's shin again, eliciting a familiar, soft snicker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! :)
> 
> [My tumblr](http://cannibalpasta.tumblr.com/)


	12. Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiyaaa darlings! ♥ 
> 
> I have a feeling you'll enjoy this chapter, but still, please let me know what you thought!

They had left the planet very quickly after the scuffle. They weren't sure whether there would be more of the bastards' comrades coming or whether they'd been found out. Luckily so far no Chitauris had crossed their way, but you could never be too sure.

Tony flopped down into the co-pilot's seat with a groan. Loki was flying the ship, looking somewhat weary, but not outright exhausted. Tony'd moved the water containers into the storage room as the god had piloted them a little further away from the solar system. They'd decided to continue on their previously agreed route, but with a little detour to shake off any potential followers.

"How are you faring, Anthony?" Loki kept his eyes on the space before them, flipping a switch with his right hand.

"I'm fine," the engineer replied, glaring down at his right leg; he hadn't been lying, it wasn't injured, but it kept throbbing painfully. "You?"

Loki didn't answer at first, and when Tony looked up, he found him eyeing the same spot Tony'd been just glaring. He kept frowning. "I am alright. I want to take a look at your leg." Tony blinked at the admission, and had to fight off a blush that threatened to emerge on his face.

"I told you already, I'm  _fine._ No need to worry about it, sourpuss." The god frowned at him once more, before turning his eyes back forward. Tony shrugged mentally and, averting his thoughts, grabbed a piece of machinery he'd been tinkering with in the cockpit before their trip to the forest-y planet. It was just some small machine from the kitchen, but Tony'd been very keen on finding out what it really was. So far, he didn't have a clue. They sat there for a while, until Loki interrupted the silence,

"I apologize for my earlier behavior." Tony snapped his eyes to the god. He looked like he was suffering from a bad case of constipation, which Tony interpreted as that this whole apologizing thing really didn't sit well with him. "I shouldn't have grabbed you nor belittled you. You are a worthy warrior, Anthony." Now Tony couldn't keep the blush from his face. He hadn't been expecting this.

"Don't sweat it. All is forgotten, and all that," he waved it off, willing the sudden awkwardness to fade. Loki just smiled at him softly when Tony finally met his eyes again (what a smug bastard) and concentrated on piloting again. Tony shook his head and went back to his tinkering.

 

* * *

 

It was probably hours later when Loki finally switched the ship on autopilot; Tony was nearly asleep, occasionally nodding off as he tried to focus on the circuit board looking thing inside the alien device. He snapped out of another spell of slumber at Loki's hushed voice.

"Come on, Anthony," the god urged, grasping Tony's arm gently and leaning slightly against the engineer's seat's backrest. When he deemed Tony awake enough, he hummed softly and walked to the hallway, presumably to have a shower. The billionaire yawned and slowly straightened himself out of the chair.

Pain flooded his senses as he rested weight on his right leg.

 _"Shit,"_ he cussed silently, taking support from the seat's armrest and bringing his hand to his thigh. Okay, maybe he'd taken a _slightly_ more serious hit than what he'd thought. He glanced towards the cockpit's entrance. He heard the shower running down the hallway, so Loki probably hadn't heard. Good. No need to make the guy fuss over him all the more. Also, he'd seemingly finally proved that he was capable of taking care of himself. He couldn't just demand help right after.

The engineer sighed and half-limped, half-forced his leg to work as he made his way to their bunk. He shredded his clothing, noticing the burn on his thigh as he did (nothing too massive for him to get worried about, still) and pulled on some soft sleeping clothes. Then he climbed in and pulled the covers over himself. After a moment, he heard Loki padding into the cabin. He slipped behind Tony's back in the bed.

"You should bathe. You're filthy," he said, but still pulled Tony against his chest, as he always did.

"T'morrow," the engineer mumbled around another yawn, and promptly fell asleep when he felt Loki huff against his neck.

 

* * *

 

The pain in his thigh hadn't left by the morning.

He woke up to Loki getting out of the bunk and changing into daywear. He then left the cabin, leaving Tony to suffer from the effects of waking up so damn early (although it probably wasn't even that early). After a while, when he'd rolled around in the bed enough, he sat up and threw his legs over the edge of the bunk. He tried to stand.

Not a good idea.

He fell back, just catching himself on the edge of the bed, as the pain surprised him. He hissed and glared at his leg, willing it to play nice. It was still sore as hell. Getting up again with a muffled groan, he limped over to grab some clothes and then exited the cabin. He skidded through the hallway to take a shower, not babying his right leg at all now. He washed himself swiftly, feeling somewhat better, and went to the kitchen where Loki was absently eating something awful-looking from a can and reading some book.

"Took you longer than usually," he commented offhandedly, not raising his eyes from the book. Tony hummed gruffly in response, shuffling over to the cabinets and grabbing a can of some fruit conserve. They ate, and the day went on as any other day at the ship, both minding their own businesses and occasionally changing a few words or grabbing a snack.

Until he had to blow it.

They'd been about to check the ships machinery, which was accessible through a hatch in the hallway's floor. It was just something they did every once in a while to maintain the engine's so far excellent condition, and all had gone just about right. Until the toolbox Tony had been handing off to Loki had slipped, and he'd had to make a sudden movement to catch it.

His quadriceps muscles had protested, _badly,_  and he'd collapsed, sending the toolbox across the floor and scattering the damn tools all around. Luckily, Loki had been there to catch him.

"Anthony!" He'd exclaimed, "What is it? Is it your leg?" All Tony could do was bite his lip and nod and grunt in response. It was no use trying to hide it _now_. Also, there was the slightest possibility that the muscle was actually injured. The _slightest_ possibility. He watched as Loki's eyes flashed and he grabbed the fabric of Tony's pants, ripping it away from around his thigh. _Alrighty then_.

After a quick inspection with his eyes and one glowing hand he snarled angrily, "You fool!" and turned his head back to glare at Tony. "You should have said you were in pain! Those weapons they were using are meant for a body far more durable than that of a–"

"Yeah, yeah, puny and fragile mortal, blah, blah–" He was cut off when Loki grasped his chin firmly, squishing his mouth and twisting his face to look straight into his green eyes.

"That is not what I meant. Now, be rational for once and stay still." The god pushed his arm beneath Tony's legs and lifted the human easily, earning a small yelp from Tony. He was about to protest, but was silenced by a sharp glare from Loki (which he returned with as much vigor, thank you very much).

"Your thigh is inflamed and there's some damage to the muscle tissue," the Jotun stated as he deposited Tony to the bunk's edge. Then he got up and began rummaging through one of the dresser's drawers. He pulled out a smallish jar, presumably containing the cream to help heal injuries.

"Hey, you're seriously overreacting," the engineer deadpanned, holding up his palms when the god begun advancing him again. "It'll heal by itself, I'll just have to not overexert myself–" Loki leveled him with a look at that.

"I'm treating your wound, end off discussion, Anthony." Tony glared at him, but settled for an eye roll.

Loki applied the cool ointment on his leg, making Tony groan involuntary, and mumbled a quick spell over it. Then, surprising Tony, pecked a quick kiss on the exposed skin. "A kiss to make it better," he said simply, smirking deviously and probably enjoying the way Tony's cheeks flushed slightly. Then he sighed, dropping his head.

"You should have said something," he repeated.

"Yeah, you said that," Tony replied without heat. Loki glanced at him.

"It remains a fact." The engineer snorted and pushed himself to lean against the wall.

"Yeah, yeah. I guess I just... I just didn't want to prove you wrong."

"Prove me wrong about what?" Loki asked, shuffling closer and sitting by Tony's feet on the bunk. He wasn't actually touching, but with all the hovering he could just as well be.

"About you finally believing that I could take care of myself, and that that I'm not some breakable–"

His sentence was cut off when Loki's fist connected with the wall next to Tony's head, leaving a dent in it. Tony shifted his eyes from the fist to the god's face. He was pretty angry.  _Aw, shit._

"You  _foolish..._ you utter  _imbecile–"_

"Aw, come on now, no hate speech–"

"I do not think you  _breakable!_ You've already proven me your skill and your worth!" Loki grasped the sides of Tony's head, shaking slightly. "I merely worry for _you_ , that is all. Do not think that I would demean you in such a way." Tony kept his eyes locked with the Jotun's, a little overwhelmed by the intensity in them.

"Okay, I was just saying. I mean,  _I_ wouldn't had been very convinced by what I–"

Loki snarled and pulled Tony's head forward into a fierce kiss, once again cutting him off mid-sentence. He pushed the engineer's back flush against the wall, pulling his hips into his lap at the same, and deepened their kiss. Tony moaned softly and grasped the fabric covering Loki's shoulders. Damn this bastard and his skilled lips.

"You. Are. A. Damn. Fool," Loki mumbled angrily between kisses, muffling Tony's growled response as he pressed their mouths together again. He retracted his lips, instantly surging down for the spot he'd deemed Tony's favorite (which it indeed was) during their last make out session. He sucked hard and Tony's moaned reaction was immediate.

Loki's hands traveled lower, one resting on the swell of his ass and the other on the small of his back, as he kept sucking hickeys into Tony's neck. Tony soon found himself trembling with arousal. He pulled at the black strands on the taller man's head.

_"Oh, god."_

Loki smirked, releasing his neck. "Indeed." He pressed another kiss to the corner of Tony's mouth, and then promptly pressed their crotches sharply together, eliciting a hiss from them both.

"Is this alright?" he asked, sobering for a moment. Tony tried to focus on something else than the hands on his body and the arousal coursing through him. He searched the green eyes boring into his own brown ones. Was it alright? Could he trust Loki?

"...Very alright," he answered finally, and melted when Loki chuckled and kissed him on the lips again.

"Good," was all the reply he got, before Loki had lowered him to the mattress. He bit the lobe of Tony's ear and Tony used the chance to grasp the god's collar and lick a stripe up his throat, enjoying the low groan it got him from the other. Loki kissed him again, and then, as quickly as it had begun, it ended, when Loki suddenly pulled the covers over the genius. Tony just stared at him, aghast.

Loki chuckled. "You must rest, Anthony." Tony could feel his face scrunching up.

"You–you can't leave me like  _this!_ Like hell I could sleep now!  _Plus,_ it's been barely six freaking hours since I last slept!" Loki smiled at him a little crookedly, and climbed into the bunk next to Tony, ignoring the engineer's protests. He pulled him against his chest.

"Rest now."

 _"You_ rest now..." Tony grumbled and Loki snickered. _Damn bastard._ He was planning on continuing their debate, but soon found his lids drooping. With a yawn, he gave into the temptation to nap a bit.

 

* * *

 

Someone was nuzzling the back of his ear.

He groaned and scrunched up his nose, rolling over to burrow his face into the crook of his disturber's neck. He smelled the mix of winter, mint and leather, and instantly relaxed into the arms around him. God, his brain works in some fucked up ways.

"Good morning, love."

"Morning," he mumbled back, not sure if Loki could even make out what he was saying. He didn't need to ponder for long though, since soon after a hand caressed up his back and another carded through his hair. The engineer felt himself go even more boneless in the other man's hold.

"How is your leg?"

"'s fine." He yawned. "How long was I out? Did you get any sleep?"

"I did actually. You, on the other hand, slept around 15 hours." At that, Tony pulled back and looked into the trickster's eyes incredulously. He hadn't slept that long in one go since high school. And that had been well over 20 years ago.

Loki grinned apologetically at him. "I might have cast a minor spell to aid you get some rest. Which you very much needed, mind you." Tony just groaned and rolled his eyes. He threw the blanket off of them and got up. He looked down at his leg, and sure enough, it didn't hurt anymore, and the burn was just a faint, red blotch against his thigh. He turned and found Loki eyeing his leg also.

"See?" he tried to assure him. "Good as new." He scratched the back of his head absently. "And thanks for that, by the way."

Loki smiled at him. "You're welcome."

He got up too, and Tony pulled him down for a kiss.

 

* * *

 

_"Master, we have successfully located the fugitives."_

He turns in his chair, listening to the screeching voice of one of his commanders.

"How far?"

_"Two weeks, one if we take less troops. What do you suggest?"_

"I do not suggest, I order," he corrects the pathetic creature. Chitauris, _oh_ how he's always despised them. All they are good for is serving as sheer firepower.

_"Ye-yes, master."_

He keeps silent for a moment.

"Tail the fugitives and contact me when you reach them. It is high time I took this matter into my own hands."

 _"Yes, master, at once."_ The call is disconnected with that, and he huffs out a dark laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! ♥ 
> 
> Any guesses on the identity of the mysterious 'he' in the last part? ;)
> 
>  
> 
> [My tumblr](http://cannibalpasta.tumblr.com/)


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